THE leader of a political party in Palestine has called on members at the SNP conference to pressure the UK Government to end arms sales to Israel, accusing the government of “actively participating in genocide”.
Dr Mustafa Barghouti, leader of the Palestinian National Initiative party, was speaking via Zoom at a fringe meeting on Saturday afternoon.
He called on SNP members to pressure the UK Government to stop arms sales to Israel and to condemn Israel’s “genocidal” actions in Gaza.
“We need your solidarity, we need you not to get used to what’s happening in Gaza," he told SNP members.
“I tell you, we will not break, we will not surrender, we will not stop struggling for our rights, and we will not leave our country, whatever it takes.
“We are ready to die on our land rather than being subjected one more time to ethnic cleansing.”
Barghouti drew on the complicity of other countries in Israel’s war in Gaza, as he said the US alone has provided 80,000 tonnes of military explosives to Israel since October 7, which he said was the equivalent of “36 kilogrammes of explosives for every man, woman and child in Gaza”.
More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel since October 7. Famine and disease are looming over the two million Palestinians who are displaced in Gaza, as Israel launched its largest invasion of the West Bank in more than 20 years.
Barghouti continued: “The British Government, the German Government and the United States Government continue to supply Israel weapons. They are actively participating in genocide, that is the simple truth.
“How can the world be so silent when all of this is happening? Where is international law?”
Barghouti, who is also a doctor, went on to tell delegates about his experience of witnessing a five-year-old Palestinian child, who lost both of his hands as a result of Israeli bombardment, ask his father whether his hands would grow back.
“Of course, the father had nothing to say,” Barghouti said.
The meeting, which was chaired by SNP MP Chris Law, also featured Nishat Choudhury from charity Medical Aid for Palestinians and Louise Regan, national chair of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
Around 50 delegates were in attendance, including several former SNP MPs such as Tommy Sheppard and Anne McLaughlin.
We previously told how SNP members unanimously passed a motion on Friday which called for a Scottish Government review into “commercial arrangements” with businesses complicit in Israel’s illegal settlements in the West Bank.
