Below is a copy of the letter that Barry sent out to concerned constituents:
15th October 2023
Dear Constituent
Israel-Gaza War
Thank you for writing to me.
I share your anger and despair. Each day new horrors are coming to light. More stories of babies and young children murdered, innocent civilians, grandparents forced to flee but with nowhere to escape. This is criminal violence with whole generations of families destroyed.
Many of my own friends have relatives and loved ones in both Israel and Palestine who have been caught up in this appalling conflict. They have been on their phones desperately seeking information.
Yours is one of a great number of letters I have received. Please understand that whilst I have made sure to read every single one, it is simply impossible to respond to every individual point that over 450 people have made. Please accept this response which I am sending unchanged to everyone who has written to me, irrespective of their own view of the violence and the politics which underlie it.
Many people have asked me what I think. I think it is more important first to set out what I have done, and what I will be doing as the local member of parliament. Then I will set out the principles which guide me in the positions I hold and the actions I take.
You will be aware that locally, there have been a heightened number of racist incidents in the past week. These have been both Islamophobic and antisemitic in nature. For this reason, I have been in daily contact with the police, the local council, and faith leaders to ensure the security of all communities here in Brent and to try and stop the conflict from poisoning the positive community relations we enjoy in the Borough.
I have welcomed the leadership by Brent’s Multifaith Partnership and am pleased to have been asked by our progressive faith leaders to engage with them in a public vigil for peace and understanding.
As home to the largest Jewish School in Europe, the safety and well-being of those children has been a major concern, and I am grateful to the Met Police for the reassurance they have provided to the children and their families at JFS and also at Sinai, that has enabled them to have the confidence to continue travelling to school. Some Jewish schools elsewhere had closed their doors out of fear for the children’s safety. Fortunately, that has not happened in Brent North. As a proud diverse and multi-faith community, we want all our children to be able to be educated free from fear.
As I write this, parliament is about to resume after the conference recess. There will be a statement about the war and I hope to be able to contribute. If the Speaker does call me, I will put up any contribution on my website which I would encourage you to visit at www.barrygardiner.com
There are a number of principles which I apply when seeking to chart a way to understand this conflict – a conflict that has been raging for longer than I have been alive.
· All people have the right to self-determination.
· All countries have the right to defend themselves.
· Support for a people does not imply support for the actions of their government.
· No political goal can justify acts of terrorism.
· No military or political goal can justify war crimes.
· All countries and putative governments must act within international law.
· All life is precious, but special care must be taken to protect children from harm.
These principles seem to me to be self-evident and lead me to make the following judgements about the current situation.
Ø The 7th October attack on the Kibbutz and the music festival by Hamas fighters was a vile act of terrorism.
Ø In defending itself, Israel does not have the right to prevent Palestinians in Gaza from having access to food, medicines and water.
Ø The hostages should be released immediately as demanded by the Secretary General of the UN.
Ø An international humanitarian corridor should be established so that humanitarian aid including water, food and medicines can reach Palestinians fleeing their homes in Gaza.
Ø The government of Israel’s actions in encouraging the illegal settlement of Palestinian land over many years and the forcible possession of Palestinian homes, has deliberately and systematically undermined progress towards a just settlement.
Ø Establishment of a separate Palestinian State as part of the “Two State Solution” has been set back by Hamas’s action.
As a former Minister in Northern Ireland, I recognise that peace does not come though the barrel of a gun. Ultimately it comes from people sitting down and talking – more than talking – listening, trying to understand how to accommodate to the other. Hamas is a proscribed terrorist organisation precisely because its founding charter rules out such an accommodation and declares its determination to eliminate the State of Israel. As such I agree with President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority that Hamas does not and cannot represent the Palestinian people. It does not seek a negotiated solution, it seeks a total annihilation.
Some of the letters I received seemed to believe that the ongoing conflict was a straightforward one where one party was clearly right and the other wrong. I do not believe that is the case. Both the Israeli people and the people of Palestine have had disastrous leadership in my view. The instability of the Netanyahu government means it relies on a coalition with the extreme religious right who have insisted on establishing more and more illegal settlements and the confiscation of more and more Palestinian land. And the instability of Hamas and their feud with Fatah and the Palestinian Authority has led them to rely for funding and support on Iran and morph into an ISIS style criminal terror organisation that hides behind the human shield of its own children. It is innocent people whose communities and families are destroyed. And the tragedy of this current phase of the conflict is that it is further deepening hatred between the people themselves.
Many years ago, I was able to visit both Jerusalem and Gaza. I was privileged to sit down with people like Ehud Barak, Shimon Perez, Saeb Erekat and Yasser Arafat. It was a time just after the tragic assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and before the second intifada, when it was still possible to envisage the shape of peace and how it might come about. It was a time when the political extremists were not yet dominant on either side. Over the next few days, as The Israeli Army begins its invasion of Gaza, the world must reiterate its caution about an absolute respect for international law and the requirement not to mete out collective punishment on the people of Gaza for the terrorist crimes of Hamas. The ability to regain any basis for future dialogue and trust will be determined by the level of restraint the Israeli armed forces are able and willing to show. A failure to do so will only drive people further to the extremes and the prospect of peace yet further into the future.
Yours sincerely
Barry Gardiner
Member of Parliament for Brent North