BYM urges PM to act on Gaza
‘Our long history of witness and peace work in Palestine and Israel gives us particular experience from which to speak on this issue...'
Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) has written to the government stating Quakers’ belief that genocide is underway in Gaza and calling again for a ban on arms sales to Israel.
Paul Parker, BYM’s recording clerk, wrote to the prime minister, outlining the urgent moral and legal imperative for the UK government to act. ‘Our long history of witness and peace work in Palestine and Israel gives us particular experience from which to speak on this issue, and we do not use the word genocide lightly. We have watched with horror as the Israeli government has deepened its collective punishment of Palestinians for the heinous, unjustified crimes of Hamas on 7 October 2023.’
The letter called on the UK government to undertake seven steps including suspending the UK-Israel Trade and Partnership Agreement, and passing urgent legislation to ban all UK trade with, and investments in, Israeli settlements.
The government should also recognise the state of Palestine and ‘challenge all attempts to encourage and implement the ethnic cleansing and forced displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank and annexation of Palestinian land’, it said.
The letter draws attention to the mass starvation of Palestinians, and the dismantling of life-sustaining systems, alongside the forced movement of Palestinians and a stated intention to expel them from Gaza.
Letters were also sent to: David Lammy, foreign secretary; John Healey, secretary for Defence; and Jonathan Reynolds, secretary for Business and Trade.
