DECENT people across the world have been horrified by the events they have witnessed in Israel and Gaza over the past 12 months. Millions of us have marched in protest at the killing of both 1300 innocent Israelis and 40,000 innocent Palestinians.
This horror has been magnified by the pager and radio bombs which killed dozens and maimed thousands in Lebanon, alongside the killing of Hezbollah leaders in a missile strike. A major escalation of the war may be under way.
Scottish Socialist Party activists have been urging people over the past year in meetings and at street stalls to sign a petition to stop the war in Gaza and to send a message to Keir Starmer and John Swinney making it clear the people of Scotland want a ceasefire. We want the killing to stop and the talking to begin.
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Although Starmer continues to ignore the view of the majority, the response our petition has received from ordinary people is, by contrast, immensely encouraging. There are those who insist we also stress
the need to release the hostages. This, of course, we do. But we believe all the elements of the equation are important in achieving a lasting political solution to this depressing war.
That solution must recognise the inalienable right of all the people in the region to live in peace, with their labours amply rewarded and their human and civil rights equally guaranteed. Jewish, Arab and Palestinian citizens are all entitled to live in peace, with their rights fully respected and their healthcare, education, social services and housing, for example, assured in an environment free from oppression and bloodshed. That must surely be the basis for any lasting settlement to this long and bloody conflict.
The SSP has been actively engaged on this issue over the past 12 months. On our street stalls we have been touched by the sincere thanks we have received from many of those we meet. Many visitors to Scotland have been pleasantly surprised to encounter our presence.
“Thank you for what you are doing”, they say after they read our leaflets, banners and posters demanding an end to the war and for peace and shared prosperity.
All the polling evidence suggests most Scots believe there is no military solution to this conflict. Only a lasting political settlement agreeable to both sides will cut it.
Israel must agree to share the wealth, rights and resources of the area with the Palestinians in return for peace and security. Equally, respecting the faith of others must be a universal prerequisite for future progress.
I appreciate that in the present environment this vision sounds utopian. It is, after all, nearly a year since the October 7 attacks and a ceasefire seems as far away as ever.
Yet, as the wonderful Oscar Wilde famously put it: “Show me a globe without utopia on it and I’ll show you a world not worth living in!’
Where then is the hope for the future, for advancing, however tentatively, toward peace and mutual prosperity? One source of hope, out of the many admittedly required, comes for me in the shape of Marwan Barghouti, who has been described as “the Palestinian Mandela”.
The Economist said of him: “The man who could end the Middle East conflict has been held in an Israeli jail for 20 years. He is more popular with Palestinians than any other politician.
“He is high on the list of prisoners they want released [in exchange for the hostages]. Even Hamas’s Islamist commanders speak of him with admiration, though he is secular.”
Barghouti, a communist in his youth, rose to become secretary general of the Fatah political party (part of the multi-party Palestine Liberation Organization and the second-largest party in the Palestinian Legislative Council) on the West Bank before splitting with Yasser Arafat whom he accused of corruption.
At the same time, he speaks Hebrew fluently having learned it as a young man during his first spell in an Israeli prison, and several Israeli politicians count him as a friend.
“It’s in our interests he compete in the next Palestinian elections – the sooner the better,” said Ami Ayalon, former head of Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency.
Israeli authorities have called Barghouti a terrorist, accusing him of directing numerous attacks, including suicide bombings, against civilian and military targets.
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Barghouti was arrested by Israel Defence Forces in 2002 in Ramallah. He was tried and convicted on charges of murder, and sentenced to five life sentences. In his last interview 20 years ago, Barghouti was quoted in The Washington Post as saying: “I am not a terrorist. But neither am I a pacifist. I do not seek to destroy Israel only to end the occupation of my country.”
Sentenced to five life terms in an Israeli jail for inspiring the Second Intifada in 2000, Barghouti, 65, is regarded as a man of integrity by Palestinians and intelligent, far-sighted Israelis alike. Indeed, he is widely seen as the man who would be elected president of the Palestinian people in any free vote.
He believes the Palestinians and Israelis “have to find a way of living in this tiny bit of land together”. Where is he today? In solitary confinement!
As the slaughter in Gaza continues and the conflict threatens to escalate surely it’s time for Barghouti and his views to play a greater role in finding a lasting solution to the carnage.
Colin Fox is the national co-spokesperson of the Scottish Socialist Party and has been since 2005. He sat on the Yes Scotland advisory board from 2012-14 and is a regular contributor to Yes platforms across the country
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