Gaza: Humanitarian Obligations
Debate between Lizzi Collinge and Jeremy Corbyn(5 days, 8 hours ago)
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Lizzi Collinge
I absolutely agree that Israel must release prisoners, particularly those who are there for their non-violent actions against the occupation. The Palestinians will need all talents, and the Israeli Government must take action on that.
I was speaking about the aftermath of the war in Iraq. Obviously, the situation in Gaza is not a carbon copy of what happened there; that was simply an example of where thoughtless implementation of a reasonable headline policy had an impact that went far beyond the stated intent.
Jeremy Corbyn
The hon. Lady is making a very interesting speech. As she rightly says, in the aftermath of the Iraq war, there was a de-Ba’athification policy, which had the effect of destroying all public services, allowing anyone to get weapons from the now dysfunctional army. It set off a whole chain of the most ghastly civil and local conflicts. That is a real danger. Things have to be maintained. In Gaza now, despite everything, there is still some degree of functionality in the operations of local government, which is attempting to make plans for the rebuilding of towns and villages all across Gaza. Surely we should be a little less judgmental of those involved and support them in trying to make a start on reconstruction.
Lizzi Collinge
I absolutely agree that we need to use the people on the ground, who know the area best, in rebuilding. The international community would be foolish not to look at previous post-war measures in other conflicts and learn the right lessons, because the people of Gaza cannot afford for preventable mistakes to be repeated. With an economy in ruins and a population traumatised by years of conflict, Palestinians need international help to rebuild.