SCOTTISH Labour leader Anas Sarwar is under pressure from within his party to call for a ceasefire in Israel and an end to the Gaza siege.
The Campaign for Socialism, an internal left-wing pressure group in Scottish Labour, has urged Sarwar to call for peace after war broke out between Israel and the Palestinian militant group last weekend.
In a statement, the group said: “We urge the Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar to join calls for an immediate ceasefire, an end to the bombardment of Gaza and the establishment of humanitarian corridors.
“As Israel’s paper of record Haaretz recognised earlier this week, this war was fuelled by an Israeli government 'of annexation and dispossession… that openly ignored the existence and rights of Palestinians.'"
First Minister Humza Yousaf wrote to the UK Foreign Secretary earlier this week, urging him to seek an immediate ceasefire and a “long-lasting peace”.
Sarwar was also urged to back a peace process and to distance himself from the comments of Labour leader Keir Starmer who appeared earlier this week to endorse Israel's cutting of power and water to Gaza.
In 2017 during a visit to the Scottish Parliament by the then-Israeli ambassador Mark Regev, Sarwar called on the Scottish Government to “deliver a very loud and clear message that after 50 years of Palestinian oppression, that the illegal occupation of the West Bank must end”.
'Dehumanising Palestinians'
The statement from Campaign for Socialism went on: “Earlier this week, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant announced a ‘complete siege’ of Gaza to fight ‘against human animals’.
“This vile and dehumanising language has been used to justify the collective punishment of the people of Gaza.
“The indiscriminate bombardment of a city, 50% of whose inhabitants are children, cannot possibly be justified as ‘self-defence’.
“I think that Israel does have that right.” Sir Keir Starmer tells @NickFerrariLBC that it is acceptable for Israel to withhold power and water from citizens in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/S1L5nftyG5
— LBC (@LBC) October 11, 2023
“Keir Starmer endorsed this war crime when he told LBC that Israel has ‘a right to’ cut off water, food and electricity from the people of Gaza, who are trapped in the world’s largest open-air prison.
“In the strongest possible terms, we condemn this reaction from the UK Labour leadership.
“Now more than ever those who call themselves ‘internationalists’ must demand Israel immediately open humanitarian corridors to allow the unimpeded entry of medical aid and supplies to assist the two million people suffering under siege.
“We call on the Scottish Labour leadership to endorse this position and seek support for it across the Scottish Labour movement.”
Later in the day after the statement was published, Sarwar tweeted: "We must condemn Hamas, but that can’t mean the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.
"International law must be upheld with free flow of electricity, water, food and medicine."
On Thursday, Israel’s military ordered 1.1 million Palestinians trapped in Gaza to move south ahead of an expected ground offensive, Al Jazeera reports.
The United Nations has warned that relocation on such a scale is “impossible” and would have devastating consequences for those in the Palestinian enclave.
Violence has been mounting in Palestine and Israel this year, which culminated in Hamas launching a surprise attack on Israel earlier this month.
The UN was told in July that an Israeli attack on the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank saw 12 Palestinians, including four children, killed.
The Times of Israel reported on Friday that more than 1300 Israelis had been killed since the war broke out.
More than 1500 Palestinians have been killed in the same period, The Guardian reports.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverley visited Israel this week and has said the UK stands with the country in its war against Hamas.
David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary, earlier this week said there “must be humanitarian access to Gaza, for food, water, medicines and electricity” and said there must be a distinction between “Hamas terrorists [and] the Palestinian people”.
Scottish Labour has been approached for comment.
