Alf Dubs, the veteran Labour peer and former child refugee, has called for the creation of a resettlement scheme for Palestinians with family connections to Britain and those in need of medical aid.
The peer, who came to Britain from Prague as a child fleeing the Nazis, also spoke of his concerns about rising antisemitism and Islamophobia against the backdrop of the crisis in Israel and Gaza.
The impact on the Jewish community of last week’s Hamas attacks on Israel – which have been described as the largest pogrom against Jews since the Holocaust – resonated deeply with Lord Dubs, who was brought to Britain from Czechoslovakia on one of the kindertransport trains in 1939.
“It’s an incredibly painful experience and of course I feel it. Of course I do,” said the peer, who is also known as the architect of a 2016 legislative amendment that created a key route into the UK for children caught up in Europe’s migration crisis.
In an interview, Dubs sketched out details of the scheme he envisaged for Palestinians from Gaza, which would be modelled on initiatives Britain has introduced for Ukrainians and Afghans, but which he said should become a permanent offering to those most in need.
“There would of course be political pressure on people in Gaza not to leave because it would be a case of Palestinians leaving that territory, but having said that there will always be people who need medical help and have connections [to the UK],” he said.
Dubs said Britain should embark on a resettlement scheme in coordination with other European states and international bodies such as the UN. He said the initiative would pave the way for Egypt to allow people to leave Gaza via the Rafah crossing, the southernmost post of exit from Gaza, which borders the Sinai peninsula.
“It would encourage Egypt. They don’t want everybody going into Sinai. Leaving aside the rights and wrongs of that, it could mean they would be more willing to allow people to come through were there to be a scheme in place,” he said.
Women and children should be prioritised and those coming to the UK as part of any resettlement scheme should be vetted from a security point of view, Dubs said.
He was speaking as British nationals and dependants inside the Gaza Strip were desperately try to find a way out. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has been sending messages to British nationals in Gaza to check on their welfare and informing them that Israeli authorities have said a “humanitarian area” has been set up in the south of the enclave.
But text messages sent by the Foreign Office to British nationals added: “We cannot confirm whether this area is safe and operating; we share it to inform your own choices.”
A least 200 UK nationals are believed to be in Gaza, where impatience has been building towards the British government’s response. MPs say constituents trapped in Gaza have been told of risky trips made to the Rafah exit after FCDO advice was followed but then people finding they could not cross.
Dubs said he was concerned about a rise of Islamophobia and antisemitism in the UK. “There has always been an undercurrent of antisemitism and Islamophobia, for a long time, and this potentially could be more serious because what is happening in Israel and Gaza is so awful,” he said. “I fear, for example, when there are people demonstrating in support of Hamas.”
