Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories

Abtisam Mohamed Excerpts

Wednesday 12th February 2025 Westminster Hall

[Tahir Ali (Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dame Siobhain. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Alloa and Grangemouth (Brian Leishman) for securing this debate today.

Less than two months ago, on 16 December, we were here in a Westminster Hall debate—the Minister was present—when I was quite passionate about the intentions of Netanyahu. I stated unequivocally that Netanyahu’s intention was to displace Palestinians into Egypt and Jordan. Lo and behold, what did we hear last week? That is exactly his intention, and now he is joined by President Trump. To me, that is no less than ethnic cleansing. We, including the Government, must call it out for what it is: ethnic cleansing. There is no other word for it.

[Abtisam Mohamed (Sheffield Central) (Lab)]

Ethnic cleansing is a practice that we see taking place, as is the annexation of the west bank. Does my hon. Friend agree that the peace process is not an end result, and recognition must be a by-product of the peace process? That is inevitably coming to an end with the ongoing annexation that we see, but Palestinians must have a recognised state.

[Tahir Ali]

I thank my hon. Friend for that important intervention. It is another point that I have been quite vociferous on. We can achieve a two-state solution only if the UK Government recognise both states. By recognising one state, we can never achieve a two-state solution; it is almost as if we are saying that we agree with Netanyahu, who simply wants a one-state solution. That is not the way forward for the peace process. What is being said should not be taken lightly; our denial is almost complicit in that agenda.

As of today, we have seen more than 50,000 Palestinians killed; thousands remain missing, their fate unknown; and countless families have been expelled from their homes. Humanitarian aid has been consistently denied, worsening an already catastrophic situation. The ceasefire three weeks ago brought a sigh of relief across the world. As fragile as it was—our Government have been repeating that—it almost, now, has become clear that Netanyahu, in preventing aid from getting to the Gazans as part of the deal, is the one who is reneging on it. More must be done to make sure that that ceasefire continues, and the harsh words that are being used against the Palestinians by Netanyahu and President Trump have to be called out.