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The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain

A step in the right direction

THE NEW Burnham government has moved against Israel, banning imports from illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and imposing sanctions on individuals and firms providing services to the Zionist settlers. Foreign Minister Ed Miliband said this marked a “new approach” to relations with Israel telling Parliament that the occupation of the West Bank as a whole was unlawful – going beyond the previous position that only described the settlements themselves as illegal.

For some Palestinians this was welcome news. For others it was simply too little, too late. For those who run the autonomous Palestinian authority in the West Bank the Burnham move was a turning point in UK-Palestine relations. For others it was just a sop to appease pro-Palestinian sentiment on the street and win back the support of the Muslim community in Britain.

Maybe yes, maybe no. In the United States Bloomberg news reports that British diplomats are privately telling the Trump team that the measures are “largely symbolic” and would have no material impact on Britain’s wider trade or security relationship with Israel. But the Burnham move has provoked a fit of rage in the Zionist camp. The Netanyahu government accused the “morally distorted” Miliband of “outrageous lies” and responded with a range of retaliatory measures, including the closure of the British consulate in occupied Arab East Jerusalem and the expulsion of British officials from a Gaza coordination centre. Leaders of Arab-hating Zionist settlers are calling for support for Argentina over the Malvinas/Falkland islands while the UK’s chief rabbi warns that Labour’s sanctions against Israeli settlers in the West Bank will put British Jews in danger.

The Israelis think they can do what they like as long as they have Western support. But the tide is turning even in the imperialist heartlands. France, the United Kingdom and Canada are among the 12 Western bloc countries that have backed restrictions on trade with illegal Israeli ⁠settlements in the occupied West Bank. And even in the United States opinion is changing with more and politicians – mainly in the Democrat camp – coming out in support of the Palestinians.

Month after month hundreds of thousands have marched through the streets of London demanding justice for the Palestinian Arabs. The Labour government has, at long last, taken heed of them and taken the first step in redressing the balance. It would never have happened under Starmer, let alone Tony Blair – the former Labour premier who sees no shame in acting as Trump’s gofer in the Middle East.

The genocidal war against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip must end. Israel must be forced out of the West Bank, Lebanon and Syria and the legitimate rights of the Palestinian Arabs restored including the right of return for all the refugees and the right to self-determination and an independent Palestinian state as envisaged by the United Nations back in the 1940s.

While not totally cosmetic the Burnham sanctions are, in fact, only a very modest step against Israeli interests. Nevertheless they are the thin end of the wedge and this is why the Zionists – and their masters in Washington – are outraged. This was the first step. Much more needs to be done.