Starmer Cancels Key Labour Policy On Palestine

After more than a hundred days of the war on Gaza, Kirstahmer is still refusing to call for a ceasefire and to add insult to injury He's rolling back long-standing commitments for Palestine's long-term future. The Jewish Chronicle had this headline this week Kirstahmer drops Corbyn-era policy on Palestinian statehood. Labour leader tells the JC any recognition would not be unilateral but come as part of a peace process So under Corbyn's leadership, Labour had pledged to recognize the state of Palestine immediately if it were elected. Kirstahmer has told the Jewish Chronicle that under his leadership that commitment is no more The JC has more comments from a Middle East minister or a shadow Middle East minister So they report this. On Sunday, Labour's shadow Middle East minister Wayne David said that the move marked a departure from t-shirt politics. The shadow minister added We will recognize the state of Palestine at a point which will help the peace process once negotiations between Israel and Palestine and the others are taking place. It's not about the Labour government going right We recognize Palestine big deal, David said. He suggested the party's previous position would have counted for very little apart from antagonizing some people So it goes on. The shadow minister said the two-state solution could only come to fruition in a way which is acceptable to the state of Israel. That is the way to bring about peace a mutually agreed to state solution So Israel has the veto power, which means it will never happen Obviously, that's not his comment mine, of course. Back to what he said. The objective is to achieve lasting peace It will require negotiations of great detail over a long period of time There are many complex issues to be sorted out And he goes on these issues would involve moving away from everything Hamas stands for and would also require a different mindset from leading politicians in Israel David said this would not be possible with Netanyahu in power. He does not believe in a two-state solution He believes in a greater Israel. There is no peace along that route David hoped for more moderate politicians who are prepared to engage in that process and eventually make the compromises that are necessary to sustain long-term peace that is Ridiculous, right? I mean it's morally abject, but it's also completely stupid to this idea So the idea that to say let's recognize the state of Palestine Let's boycott Israel. The idea that that is t-shirt politics is The opposite of of reality, right? T-shirt politics is saying we would really like new moderate leaders in Israel And we hope that we can get them to agree to a two-state solution That would be nice, right? That's t-shirt politics because you're not doing anything to make it happen. The only thing that could possibly possibly bring an Israeli government to the table would be Severe pressure from the outside because at the moment if you're just somehow hoping Oh, we hope that suddenly the Israeli public will change their minds and elect a moderate who's happy to have a two-state solution, right? Netanyahu might not be in power forever, but the people who will replace him As Obstinate when it comes to a two-state solution as he is, right? There is no desire within the Israeli public to To make any kind of compromise when it comes to a two-state solution just like in apartheid South Africa The only thing which is going to change the incentives within Israel is some severe Sanctions and severe consequences imposed from the outside because right now you've got Netanyahu saying well We can we can have the whole of greater Israel and still we can have a successful economy We can still be sort of the Silicon Valley of the Middle East, right? He can promise that to the Israeli public and he has a point they can sort of basically try to have a greater Israel to keep expanding settlements on the West Bank to say there will never be a State of Palestine and still have a flourishing economy Israel does have a flourishing economy, right and his opponents when they you know stand for election They're gonna say the same thing because why would they why would they say to the public? Oh, actually, you know, let's not expand Let's let's accept a compromise. Let's accept a viable Palestinian state Why because it's a nice thing to do right they're not gonna win the only way you can give The opposition to Netanyahu some leverage now It's it's not going to come from the existing major parties, right? If you if you were to have some sort of new movement or if you were to have the existing Sort of opposition parties take on a position you would need for them to say well what Netanyahu wants what the greater Israel people want You can't have you know the only way to Undercut support for the extremists in Israel is to say what the extremists can no longer have what they want and they can at the Moment have what they want because no one on the outside is applying any pressure So long as Israel can have a greater Israel and a thriving tech sector a thriving economy There will be no change in Israel So the t-shirt politics is to say we're not going to impose any consequences on Israel and hope that suddenly They wake up one morning and the public say, you know what? Let's give the Palestinians a state That's what current labor position is It was Corbyn who was a realist on this if we want to have a two-state solution We need to apply some pressure on Israel That means boycotts one part of that could also be recognizing the state of Palestine that gives them more leverage Labour's Fahim Debonair Is on Keir Starmer's side on this She's appeared on Sky News where she was asked about free Palestinians being killed by Israeli drones in the West Bank The loss of life in Gaza and in Israel over the last few months has been horrific And I just want to reiterate Labour's ambition, which is a peaceful two-state solution That's what we've always advocated for We've always said we want Israel and Palestine to be able to live safely and securely side-by-side No, I mean I think it's it's it shows the complexity and the history here Which is that we need to get to a sustainable ceasefire so that we can create the conditions for the negotiations to be restarted I mean we have over the last 10 or so years Negotiations to get to a peaceful two-state solution have frankly stalled and we need to get back on to that and this just shows the Danger that we've been in as it as a world But particularly for the people of Israel and Palestine who are suffering so much right now. I love it They have frankly stalled be I'm gonna be real with you Negotiations for a two-state solution. They haven't been going anywhere for a while. Okay. What's your plan to get them back on track? We're gonna ask nicely Okay Doesn't sound like a very clear or effective strategy to me and Helena What do you make of this idea that sort of trying to impose some consequences on Israel is t-shirt politics But asking them nicely and that's what the grown-ups in the room would do I mean surely this must be the last nail in the coffin for plenty of people who are advocating a lot of pro-labor voting strategies as a form of harm reduction when essentially they now take an identical position on Palestinian statehood that the conservatives do. This idea that we can just cross our fingers and hope at some point There's going to be a conducive plan when Israel are going to be happy themselves to be able to Latch up on what's been their continual policy of occupation for the last 50 years I mean when we have not even members of their cabinet or anything like we have People in our within our own borders at the year the ambassador to the UK Zippy Otovelli saying things like the Oslo paradigm has failed Which is essentially the only basis that we currently have For any kind of two-state solution is the Oslo process now. I have my issues with the Oslo process I think a lot of people do but when you have somebody who has been specifically said that there's no there's no other plan other than bombing every building in Gaza because they all have tunnel access and Who has also said that she doesn't say that there's any route towards a two-state solution Mark Regev refused to answer questions in terms of two-state solutions that this is very clearly the broader opinion Amongst Israeli politicians both within the government and within plenty of opposition parties as well And we'll be waiting forever for a two-state solution That's conducive with Israel given when every single Negotiation has failed so far based upon them refusing to even do even the grace of appealing to things such as UN Resolution 194 for Palestinian right of return which you'd think would be something basic given that the existence of the state of Israel is Based on another UN resolution, but they won't even do that when engaging in those negotiations Whereas what as you say is correct we do need to put pressure on Israel in terms of political and diplomatic movements as well as other things in terms of our rhetoric to try and get them to adopt a different position because at the moment they hold all Of the cards they have their Western backed by the most powerful country in the world most powerful military in the world why would they change their position when they've been allowed to commit a genocide on camera and Still not be able to get any outside pressure in terms of not just Palestinian statehood, but upon stopping what they're doing right now It's exactly like if in the 1980s someone said Oh boycotting South Africa. That's t-shirt politics What we should do is ask South Africa very nicely to end apartheid That's not how it happened, right? It was the case actually that the white apartheid government in South Africa did eventually say did eventually agree to end apartheid but that was only because There was a massive international campaign which meant that South Africa had to make a choice either we continue apartheid and be Culturally and economically isolated or we end it right they had to be presented with that choice for them to Decide to dismantle a system of racial oppression, right? We're gonna have to Give Israel that same choice. Otherwise, we're gonna continue with the status quo Which is what the Labour Party seem very happy to you know, put up with or celebrate even