Caabu activities on Gaza

Since Monday 14 May when over 60 protesters were killed by Israeli forces in Gaza, and over 2,700 injured, there have been two Urgent Questions in Parliament and a Westminster Hall debate on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. On 15 May, the Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry tabled an Urgent Question on the issue of violence against protesters. 21 MPs who have been on delegations to Palestine with Caabu spoke in this debate.

On Monday 21 May, Chair of the Britain-Palestine All Party Parliamentary Group, Richard Burden MP tabled an Urgent Question on the UK's abstention in the UN Human Rights Council vote on Gaza. 9 MPs who have been on delegations to Palestine spoke in this debate, including Caabu board members Rt Hon Alistair Carmichael MP and Paula Sherriff MP. 

Caabu Chair Rt Hon David Jones MP has also written to the Foreign Office about Gaza. He also had an article published in the Huffington Post: Gaza proves Britain must take the lead in protecting children in conflict.

"This week has seen the culmination of six weeks of protests in Gaza, which have proven devastating for children and their families.  Shockingly, more than 250 Palestinian children have been shot with live ammunition, including a child as young as eight years old. The UN has  reported that hundreds more have been injured during the protests, many sustaining appalling, life-changing disabilities. 

Palestinian children and their families are finding it increasingly difficult to cope with the challenging living conditions in Gaza.  Public services, such as hospitals and schools, are progressively deteriorating as a consequence of the ten-year blockade and the legacy of three wars."

On 24 May, a Westminster Hall debate was secured by Louise Haigh MP, who travelled to Palestine with Caabu and Medical Aid for Palestinians in February 2018. There were 6 speechs and 2 interventions from MPs who travelled to Palestine with Caabu. The whole debate can be read here and watched here.

Caabu board member Alistair Carmichael MP also spoke in the debate, in particlular on the impact on Gaza's fishing community:

Caabu director Chris Doyle wrote an article in Arab News: Gaza treated with contempt by international community.

"The increasingly fictional international community is largely inactive on Israeli settler crime and on Israeli soldiers using live fire in the West Bank when there is no imminent threat, as it was after Israel’s four wars on Gaza since 2006. Will it be any different now over the Gaza killings? Gaza is treated with contempt. The world just watches Israel bludgeoning the planet’s largest open-air prison, where life has become nothing more than a struggle for survival, typically on food handouts."

Caabu's Joseph Willits also spoke on Talk Radio with John Nicolson, about the importance of Caabu's parliamentary delegations, and on Gaza and the woeful responses to the killings. You can listen herebetween 16:30-17:00, 10:45 minutes in.