Walsall Council committee to write to UK Government calling for permanent ceasefire in Gaza

The petition was launched by the Walsall Kobar Friendship Association, a group which has partnered with the Palestinian village in the West Bank.

Signed by over 700 people, it called on the council to write to the government with three demands.

It called for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, to terminate all arms sales to Israel including arms export licenses, and the end of the occupation of Palestine including the return of all stolen land.

At the meeting on May 12, the scrutiny committee approved the proposal to write to the UK Government directly, and recommended that Walsall Council’s cabinet do the same.

Earlier this year, Walsall Council wrote to the UK Government with similar demands following the approval of a notice of motion brought to a full council meeting.

Lead petitioner Michael Foster said: “The motion was a very welcome move and we applaud the council for doing this. We feel there is more that the council can and must do.

“It’s imperative that Israel needs to immediately and permanently cease its genocidal onslaught.

“As shocking and awful as the events of that day were, nothing that happened on the 7 October 2023 can possibly justify the actions of Israel during the 19 months that have followed.

“On the 26 January 2024, the International Court of Justice, the world’s highest court, ruled what Israel is doing is genocide. Nearly 35,000 children below the age of five face imminent death by starvation. This is collective punishment. These is genocide.

“Walsall Council must do everything in its power to uphold the rule of international law and prevent genocide. Walsall Council must act on this petition and explicitly tell the government to call for an immediate permanent ceasefire.”

Leader of the independent party, councillor Aftab Nawaz, said: “The situation in Palestine, as many have seen on TV, is horrendous at the moment. It is mass murder that is being played out on our TV screens. There’s a deliberate attempt that starvation is being used as a tool.

“That is not right, that is against humanitarian laws, that is against any spine of humanity. Even at the time of our worst days in Europe, people weren’t starved to death to reach those aims. It’s not a war, it’s a total one-sided massacre.”

Leader of the council, councillor Garry Perry, said: “All I can assure you is that wherever there is injustice in this world, wherever innocent lives are being lost, whoever is responsible for that, I’ll always be critical of them.

“But our authority, as a local council, is very much limited to just expressing a will of a body of opinion and submitting that to the government for consideration. I do see you campaign, protest and champion the need for a sustainable peace solution to be found.”

Councillor Khizar Hussain said: “Now, 61,700 people have been killed in this genocide and massacre of Palestinians. More than 112,000 injured, over 1,500 presumed dead under the rubble.

“Eighty per cent of buildings and infrastructure have been destroyed, 88 per cent of hospitals and medical facilities have been destroyed, over 250 journalists killed. When there has been World War One, Two, the holocaust, we said ‘never again’. But never again has happened, in Ukraine, in Palestine.”

Leader of the labour group, councillor Matt Ward said: “The scenes we’ve seen are absolutely horrific, when we see them on national TV they’re sanitised.

“When you see it on social media, it’s appalling. Benjamin Netanyahu needs to be dragged before the court and held accountable for his actions that he is doing to the Palestinian people. We need a permanent ceasefire and as we said before, time and time again, a two state solution.

Councillor Matt Follows said: “We’ve heard about some very serious humanitarian concerns here and I respect that. I think it needs to be said that the local council isn’t the place to be discussing international issues. There’s no way we can really wrap our heads around the complexity for one.

“I think there’s potential that the way the debate has been framed, and the petition has been framed is potentially one-sided to what is obviously a very complex issue. I don’t think we can do it justice in that sense, and therefore I won’t be able to endorse the petition.”

Councillor Vera Waters said: “No one should be persecuted, no innocent child, mother or anyone should be persecuted. However, this is something that the governments need to get together and actually sort out. Why isn’t the UN getting together and sorting this out for the people?”

Councillor Khizar Hussain moved the proposal for the scrutiny committee to write to the UK Government with the three demands outlined in the petition, and to recommend that Walsall Council’s cabinet do the same, which was approved by the committee.