Palestine EDM gets substantial support within Parliament

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign welcomes Richard Burden’s Early Day Motion (EDM) 1841 Release of Alan Johnston which has received a significant total of 114 signatures from British MPs. The EDM highlights Johnston’s acknowledgment of the pivotal role played by Hamas in securing his release and recognises the need for our governments to recognise Hamas as the governing choice of Palestinians as result of a fair and democratic election and for the Quartet not to deepen the division between different Palestinian factions.

“The extent of cross party support for this EDM shows that the mood in Britain is changing”, commented Betty Hunter, the General Secretary of PSC. ‘The pressure is building for a change of policy from the British government. Now is the opportunity for Gordon Brown to show courageous leadership and lead the international community in recognising Palestinian democracy and work constructively to implement international law in support of the Palestinian people and in support of an independent Palestinian state”.

PSC is pleased that there are such strong elements within the Parliament supporting the Palestinian cause and hopes that this will lead to more calls from the international community for a peace process based on dialogue. We call on the British government to act now: to end the siege on the Palestinians and immediately reinstate the funding to the Palestinian Authority; to respect Palestinian democracy; to ensure Israel releases the imprisoned MPs and all other political prisoners; to act to end the Israeli occupation; and to ensure Israel abides by international law.

You can view the EDM here: http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=33685&SESSION=885

PSC works to bring to light the human and political conditions of the Palestinians. We demand the British government and the international community put pressure on the Israeli government to immediate withdraw from the Occupied Territories and to abide by international law. We campaign for just peace, Palestinian self-determination, and the rights of Palestinian refugees through demonstrations, public meetings, parliamentary lobbying and cultural events. We are an independent, non-governmental, non-party political organisation with members from many different communities across Britain. Please visit www.palestinecampaign.org