Greens response to Gaza ceasefire agreement
Reacting to the news that the first steps have been taken in a ceasefire agreement to end the assault on Gaza, Scottish Greens issued a statement from the party’s spokesperson for external affairs, Patrick Harvie MSP.
Patrick said:
“This agreement is a long overdue chance to halt Israel’s violence, end the siege on Gaza and see both Israeli and Palestinian families reunited with their loved ones.
“We cannot bring back the tens of thousands of people who have been killed, and the international community owes it to them, to their loved ones, and to the Palestinian people as a whole to ensure that a lasting peace can emerge.
“But that can’t happen without justice for Palestine, which is a promise made by the international community decades ago, and left unfulfilled.
“This war didn’t begin two years ago, and the occupation stretches back for generations now. Unless there is a fundamental change we will be in the same situation again and again. International pressure must continue to build until the occupation itself is over, and Palestinian lives are rebuilt.
“There must be accountability and justice for the war crimes that have been inflicted and for those who have enabled them. The world has stood by as genocide has been perpetrated. It is unacceptable in the 21st century that this is the case, and it will take a profound change of hearts and minds to ensure this never happens again.”