Labour’s Lisa Nandy has called for an urgent focus on a two-state solution to end violence in Israel and occupied Palestine, saying the international community had not done enough to seek a lasting solution to the regional conflict before the latest outbreak of war.
Nandy, who was visiting Jerusalem on the day the death toll in Gaza climbed to more than 23,000, said she cried hearing about the agony of Palestinians with loved ones trapped there, but believed demanding an immediate ceasefire was not the most effective way to end the violence.
“Part of how we have ended up in this desperate situation is that for a decade and a half there has been no meaningful peace process, and this can’t happen again,” she said. “This has to be the moment when the international community steps forward and ensures that we don’t allow this to occur again.”
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, also flew into Israel on Monday. He is making a fresh push to stop the war escalating into a regional conflict, and stepping up pressure on Israel to protect civilians in Gaza, allow more aid into the strip and start planning for a postwar future.
Israeli authorities have said they expect to fight in Gaza for several more months, even as the UN, aid agencies and a large majority of the international community warn that an immediate humanitarian ceasefire is the only way to mitigate catastrophic levels of suffering.
Nearly all the 2.3 million population are hungry and displaced from their homes, without access to clean water or sanitation. The health system has almost collapsed, with just 13 of 36 prewar hospitals functioning.
“We all want to see the violence end as soon as possible,” Nandy said, describing the crisis in Gaza as an “overwhelming priority”. “The question is, do you believe that calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire makes one more or less likely.”
Labour has been split by divisions over whether to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. Eight frontbenchers quit their roles to back a parliamentary motion calling for an immediate ceasefire in November, when the party’s leader, Keir Starmer, backed only a humanitarian pause, and 56 MPs rebelled to support it.
Nandy said diplomatic efforts must “recognise the current reality facing Israel”, where calls for a ceasefire are taken as rejecting the country’s right to defend itself after the biggest terror attack in its history.
“To many people in Israel, [the call for an immediate ceasefire] is simply a call to leave your hostages in tunnels being held by Hamas, it’s a call to allow the rockets to fly, it’s a call to allow Hamas to continue to operate and to recruit.”
The former chair of Labour Friends of Palestine, who will also travel to Jordan to discussion regional challenges, met Israeli and Palestinian officials for “cordial but robust discussions” and said she spoke to Palestinians with loved ones in Gaza.
“I will confess this last 24 hours it has been impossible not to cry, meeting some of the people who have been affected,” Nandy said. “We went over to Ramallah, there are people [there] with family in Gaza, they are watching what is happening, they are powerless to stop it and it is literally agony watching it unfold.”
She also visited a Bedouin village in the West Bank whose residents say they are under threat from violent settlers. While the international focus has been on Gaza, there has also been a surge in violence against Palestinians in the West Bank
Since 7 October, more than 300 Palestinians have been killed there, more than 80 of them children, and over 1,200 people forced to leave their homes, UN figures show.
Labour called for visa bans on violent settlers, a policy brought in by the UK government. Nandy said her visit was important to understand the situation in the West Bank, including an atmosphere of intimidation.
“If somebody wakes you up in the middle of the night with a gun to your head, and says, ‘you’ve got to leave’, none of that is recorded in the official statistics. But it’s the job of British politicians like me to come and find out that that’s happening.”
“If there is a prospect of getting a meaningful peace process back on track, we’ve got to deal with the widespread sense of anger, despair and hopelessness across the whole of Palestine. Not just in Gaza.”
Working on a long-term solution with Israel’s current government involves dealing with far-right ministers with links to the settler movement, such as the national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, who has been accused of inciting war crimes statements by calling for the mass displacement of Palestinians from Gaza.
Nandy said Labour was willing to call out specific examples of “language that is times unhelpful, and at times deeply offensive”, but would work with ministers who are part of an “elected government, chosen by the people of Israel”.
