THE Palestinian ambassador to the UK has insisted Britain is one of “the few nations in the world” which can help bring peace to Palestine as he called for an end to arms sales to Israel.
Husam Zomlot told MPs on the Foreign Affairs Committee that the Palestinian people are facing an attempt at “total erasure” and called on the UK to apply pressure to Israel by implementing a comprehensive arms embargo and formal recognition of the state of Palestine.
Earlier in the session, public international law expert Dr Victor Kattan told MPs it “does not make sense” for the UK to not recognise Palestinian statehood.
In a powerful speech to the committee, Zomlot said he wanted to speak with the “utmost urgency” as he urged the UK to fill a “a vacuum of global leadership at a historic moment of epic danger”.
Zomlot said: “We the Palestinian people are facing an Israeli attempt at total erasure – physical, political and legal, not just in Gaza and not only for the past 14 months but for more than a century of settler colonialism.
“This is happening in clear and gross violations of all standards and norms of international law.
“The absence of any effective intervention by the international community over the past 14 months will leave future generations asking: Where were we during this genocide? What did we do?
“The UK could be instrumental in bringing this mass murder, mass destruction to an end. Britain has a unique and historical role in and responsibility for Palestine. It remains an important and influential actor on the international scene. It is one of the founders of the global rules-based order. It has deep and lasting connections to large parts of the world including ours.
“With the EU distracted and the US unpredictable as we speak, the UK is one of the few nations in the world in a position to step forward to fill a vacuum of global leadership at a historic moment of epic danger all over the world.”
The Foreign Affairs Committee has launched an inquiry asking how the UK and its allies “can help achieve a ceasefire and lasting end to the war in Gaza and Lebanon”.
Zomlot said there were four “very obvious” ways for the UK to pressure Israel – a comprehensive arms embargo, sanctions, accountability and formal recognition of the state of Palestine.
Asked what the significance of the UK recognising Palestine would be, he replied: “It would be extremely significant and it’s long overdue.”
Kattan highlighted how William Hague has foreign secretary in 2011 said that the Palestinian national authority largely met the criteria for statehood in international law so far as the occupation allows.
The following year there was a vote at the UN that conferred observer state status on Palestine in which the UK abstained.
But Kattan pointed out the UK still recognised Palestine as a state at that point, given the conditions for its vote in favour included Palestine delaying joining the International Criminal Court – which only states can join.
He went on: “But they withheld recognition for reasons that were connected to negotiations, which made sense in 2012, 2013 and 2014 at the last round of negotiations.
“There have been no serious negotiations in the last 10 years. The argument that we will withhold recognition until it’s the right time doesn’t make sense in the absence of negotiations.
“You have no chance at the moment with the current government of a two-state solution.
“However, that does not mean the UK should not recognise Palestine because one of the arguments that is being used by the right wing is that the territory’s status is disputed and so long as they don’t have full recognition by all members of the international community, that argument can be sustained.
“But the UK and other Commonwealth countries, France, they could get together and ensure recognition before [Donald] Trump enters office that could make a change, that could shift the dynamics, I would suggest.”
