The terrorist attacks which have occurred over the past two weeks in Israel have been truly shocking. To take just three examples of these senseless acts of violence: yesterday a 70-year-old woman was stabbed while sitting on a bus in central Jerusalem. Days earlier, a child was stabbed while riding his bicycle. Last week, a father was murdered in front of his wife and children in the Old City.
There can be, and there is, no justification whatsoever for such acts. We are also saddened by the loss of life in the West Bank. As Labour’s shadow foreign secretary, Hilary Benn, argued yesterday, ‘more killing will achieve nothing’.
Britain does, however, have a role to play in helping to tackle the root causes of this violence, which is why I have written to the prime minister urging him to use our influence to do so.
Many of those who have carried out, or attempted to carry out, these stabbings are extremely young: some are barely teenagers. We cannot know what drives somebody of 13 to murder. But we do know that, for a number of years, the Palestinian Authority has turned a blind eye to, and, in all too many cases, actively engaged in violently antisemitic incitement. Children’s television programmes on state-controlled media glorify and justify the murder of Jews, using imagery and language which none of us would think acceptable if we saw it broadcast in Britain. We cannot discount the impact of this tragic poisoning of young minds on current events.
In recent days, Mahmoud Abbas has made a number of statements which seem to be aimed at calming tensions (although his television address last night was condemned by the Israeli Labor party for ‘grave, defamatory statements that distort reality, border on utter irresponsibility and only serve to further fan the flames of hopelessness and hatred in the region’). Sadly, however, for a number of weeks now the Palestinian president has been making inflammatory and untrue suggestions that Israel is intending to change the rules governing access to the Temple Mount, a site holy to both Muslims and Jews. The Israeli government has been too slow to allay these fears and to prevent ultra-nationalists from stoking them. However, Abbas’ language – his references, for instance, to Jews’ ‘filthy feet’ desecrating Muslim and Christian holy sites – has been irresponsible in the extreme.
Britain should convey to the Palestinian Authority that antisemitic incitement must stop immediately and that it must be clear and unequivocal in its condemnation of the murder of Israelis.
Incitement brings the prospects of a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict no nearer. A two-state solution – one which provides Israel with secure and recognised borders and the Palestinian people with an independent, democratic and viable state of their own – will only come about through direct negotiation and compromise by both sides.
But a lasting peace has to be built on the twin pillars of coexistence between the peoples of Israel and Palestine and economic development in Palestine. When visiting Israel last year, I saw wonderful examples of projects which seek to promote coexistence. The British government should examine how our international development budget best supports those who are attempting to promote ties of friendship and mutual support between the peoples of Israel and Palestine.
In the West Bank, I also visited the inspiring new city of Rawabi. New jobs, homes, and opportunities for young Palestinian entrepreneurs to start and grow their businesses: these are an investment in the prosperity of the Palestinian people and, even in these dark days, a future peace. The European Union is a key and generous donor to the Palestinian Authority. Our government must ensure that these funds are directed towards supporting economic development and do not find their way into funding those who promote division and violence.
Next week, I am visiting Israel again. I will be meeting our friends in the Israeli Labor party but I want, too, to show our solidarity with the Israeli and Palestinian peoples at this most difficult time.
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Joan Ryan MP is chair of Labour Friends of Israel. She tweets @JoanRyanEnfield
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The best answer would be for Israel to recommit to proper negotiation for a two state solution, and by closing down the illegal settlements in the West Bank, helping to start to remove the obvious sense of desperation and despair of the Palestinian people that is leading to these appalling attacks