25 April 2024
The Green Party has repeated its call for a full bilateral ceasefire, the release of all hostages, the suspension of arms exports to Israel, and for key players in the Netanyahu government to be held accountable for possible war crimes.
For Hounslow this is an international issue with local relevance given the connections of residents and the council to the area. Hounslow is twinned to Ramallah in Palestine, the only local authority twinning with Palestine in England.
Dave Wetzel, an active member of the Hounslow Green Party, led a Hounslow delegation in 1988 to Gaza and the West Bank during the first Palestinian Intifada as leader of the Labour council said “This conflict did not start on 7 October 2023, it started in 1948 when Israel expelled millions of Palestinians from their homes. The continued maltreatment of Palestinians only serves to exacerbate the problem. We must work to uphold the human rights of all the civilians caught up in this war.”
Following the death of aid workers earlier this month, the Green Party’s Global Solidarity spokesperson and former Middle East diplomat, Carne Ross, said: “The death of compassionate humanitarian volunteers was an outrageous and avoidable tragedy. The cynical attempts by the Netanyahu government to portray the attack on World Central Kitchen (WCK) as an accident have been dismissed by those agencies trying to feed the starving in Gaza. Under international humanitarian law, this humanitarian aid is the responsibility of the Israeli government, yet they are keeping routes closed and not ensuring that those emergency routes operated by aid agencies are safe.”
“It is clear that the Israeli government is violating the terms of the licences under which arms are exported and is failing to abide by basic international humanitarian law. It is a national shame that we are arming the Israeli defence forces who are responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians. It appears that the deadly Israeli strike on the aid workers used a drone produced in the UK. This only strengthens the case for an immediate arms embargo.”
Katharine Kandelaki, the Green Party Candidate for Feltham & Heston in the general election, spoke at the Hounslow march on Saturday 20 April 2024. Katharine said “When can Gaza live again in a world of laughter, joy and learning like us, living our normal lives? When can this world of respect happen again? We have to fight for it. We have to spread the word, have humanity. This is for our future generations; this is for our children and their children. We have to be an example; we have to fight for peace.”
Freya Summersgill, the Green Party Candidate for the Brentford West by-election recently answered questions at a meeting of a local grassroots organisation, Hounslow Votes for Palestine.
In response to: What do you think is going to happen after a ceasefire? Freya said “After a ceasefire, I hope that aid and support will flood into Palestine to support the people as they rebuild, again. I personally hope that the scale of the collective punishment of Gaza and the public outcry across the world this time will sway international opinions sufficiently to push the two sides back to negotiating a permanent solution. As a civil engineer who knows how long and how much effort and money it takes to design and build the infrastructure for a city, the unrestrained destruction of civilian areas we’ve witnessed is callous and excessive. It will take years for Gaza to recover to where it was before October 2023.”
“I have been informing myself further about the history of the conflict, so when I have discussed the subject with friends and family, I can bring facts to the conversation. If I were a Green councillor or MP, I would be able to do more to represent the strength of feeling of the local community about the war in Gaza because I would not be muted by my party. You can see the strength of feeling in the Green Party through their numerous public statements.”
