29 February 2024

From very early on, it became clear that Israel’s response to Hamas’ atrocity would be far from ‘proportionate’. Our political leaders, who we entrust to find diplomatic means to end conflicts, went on a long campaign defending Israel’s ‘right to defend itself’ and anyone who questioned that line was accused of being antisemitic or being a terrorist sympathiser.

Since then, the ‘right to defend itself’ has materialised into the decimation of everything from schools, and universities, to hospitals and civilian housing. There has been no diplomatic efforts to create peace, and the UK have suspended funding to crucial aid lifelines for refugees. The death toll keeps rising, now standing at 30,000+ innocent people killed, mostly women and children, with 70,000+ seriously injured, and hundreds of thousands displaced. Even the likes of Joe Biden, President of the USA, described Israel action as ‘indiscriminately bombing Gaza’. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) have ruled that there is a ‘plausible case of genocide’, yet the UK continues to sell weapons to Israel and refuses to apply any sanctions to its political leaders.

In stark contrast to our government’s response to Russia, with the invasion of Ukraine, we have seen almost no immediate calls for a ceasefire from politicians in the Labour and Conservative Party. In fact, doing so has led to a suspension for some.

Considering the lack of action from our politicians, many residents in Medway have come together to join peaceful demonstrations throughout Rochester, Chatham, and Gillingham. They have been urging our MPs to call for a legitimate, immediate, and permanent ceasefire, to de-escalate tensions and restore peace. I have participated in these demonstrations and have listened to many people who are broken-hearted at the scenes we are witnessing.

The demonstrations have consisted of people from different political leanings, a variety of religious beliefs, including Christians, Jews, and Muslims, and people from many different parts of our society, who solely want an end to the violence.

The demonstrations have always been received well, and there has never been any police action towards protestors. If there are disagreements between protestors and the public, then they are also resolved in a respectful way. I have always felt safe in these demonstrations, and have shared my solidarity with everyone else who has come together in this dark period to demand a peaceful resolution.

As a group, the Green Party, will always demand peace at every opportunity, in the wake of war, or genocide. When our political leaders are silent on calls for peace, we will raise our voices in defence of the innocent. It is in all of our interests to de-escalate tensions, and ensure ever-lasting peace. The Green Party recognise this, and, in October 2023, were the first party to call for an immediate ceasefire. Since then, they have demanded a cessation of weapons sales to Israel.

This is consistent with the Green Party’s non-violent approach to demonstrating its opposition to breaches of human rights and international law. It is parallel to calls the Party has made for boycotts of a number of different countries in the past including Russia, Saudi Arabia, Myanmar, China, and Qatar.

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