By IRNA,
London : A Labour Party parliamentary candidate has criticised Israel for continuing its three-year-long siege on Gaza, urging international organisations to step in to deliver aid to the Palestinians.
“If Palestine is to grow as a viable and stable country, then Israel needs to do what the international community has been telling it to do such a long time and that is to lift the blockade on Gaza. It is irrational to have a long blockade on Gaza,” Bassam Mahfouz said.
He told IRNA that Israeli policies with regards to Palestinians in the past three years have been “counter-productive” as the blockade has “simply prevented Palestinian children from receiving a decent education and parents from decent basic public services”.
Asked about the Labour policy on the Israeli-Palestinian issue, he said the Labour Party is keen on a “two-state solution on the 1967 borders and a peaceful democratic state of Palestine”.
“We want to see Jerusalem [Beit-ul-Moqaddas] the capital of both Israel and Palestine and we need to arrive at a just and agreed settlement of the Palestinian refugee situation. And most importantly, Israel should withdraw from illegal settlements.”
Referring to the Israeli siege of Gaza, Mahfouz said that Palestinian people are suffering a lot from the Israeli policies which are blocking international humanitarian aid from being delivered to the Gazans.
“I know that UN ships are harboured outside of Gaza waiting to be allowed to deliver humanitarian aid into the strip. But Israelis are not allowing them to do so,” he said, calling on international organisations to step in to deliver aid and public services to the Palestinians in Gaza.
Mahfouz said the Labour government, in power during the past 13 years, has been trying to support the Palestinians directly through funding.
“In 2008 alone, we gave 75 million pounds directly to Palestinians, 50 million of which to the [Palestinian] Authority and 9 million for basic services for refugees through UNRWA.”
He reiterated that the Israeli actions during the Gaza war were “disproportionate”.
“I want to see a ban on Israeli settlement goods in UK. Also, I want to see a full suspension of UK arms exports to Israel.”