Beth Winter calls the Israeli military assault on Jenin “a horrific attack on civilians” as 12 are killed, including 3 children.
Attack on refugee camp comes as the UK government moves to clamp down on Palestine solidarity.
On Friday, a ‘Freedom Flotilla” is set to dock in Cardiff Bay before it heads to Gaza to raise awareness of the 16 year blockade.
Emergency Protest – Hands Off Jenin – 12 Noon, Nye Bevan Statue Cardiff, Saturday 8th July
By SC Cook. Cover image: Beth Winter addresses a rally in Aberdare earlier this year, by Adwitiya Pal.
The Cynon Valley MP Beth Winter has called on the UK government to suspend all arms sales, including surveillance technology, to Israel in the wake of its military assault on a refugee camp in Jenin.
“Can the Foreign Secretary say what steps he will take to review whether the Israeli Defence Force has made any use of UK arms sold to Israel in this attack, and will immediately suspend all arms sales, including surveillance technology,?” the MP said this week.
In an urgent question to James Cleverly in the House of Commons on Tuesday, Winter asked the Minister if the UK would also ban collaboration between the UK and Israeli military “as a result of this horrific attack on civilians.”
“Firing at women and the youths trying to approach them.”
On Monday, Israel launched one its deadliest attacks on the occupied West Bank in decades, killing at least twelve Palestinians in the overcrowded Jenin refugee camp, wounding over one hundred more and causing widespread destruction. Three of those killed were children.
The attack included drone strikes and a missile, damaging buildings and infrastructure in the refugee camp which houses around 14,000 displaced Palestinians in less than half a square kilometre.
As of Wednesday, Israel said it had withdrawn all forces from Jenin. As they left, hundreds gathered to cheer their departure as the Palestinian resistance declared victory against the heavily armed state.
The latest assault on Palestine followed an Israeli air raid two weeks prior, which killed seven Palestinians in another drone attack, the first by Israel in the West Bank since 2006.
Speaking with Al Jazeera, Jenin resident Yazan Soqiya described the horrifying scenes during the raid:
“We helped evacuate women as well from the sites of confrontation. However, the army wasn’t letting us help people. They were hindering us, blocking streets and firing at women and the youths trying to approach them.”
On Wednesday, Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI) said that three hospitals were attacked by the Israeli military in Jenin, “severely damaging their operational capacity.”
“Israeli forces stormed Jenin’s governmental hospital, firing tear gas and live bullets,” they added.
In the House of Commons, Winter – who was recently deselected by Labour – pressed the UK Government on this issue.
“What has the foreign office said to its Israeli counterparts about the IDF preventing medical staff accessing the Jenin refugee camp or firing tear gas into hospitals sheltering children and elderly residents?” she asked.
The Minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan did not respond directly to the question, simply calling on Israel to “demonstrate restraint” and for “all parties” to avoid escalation. She added that the UK government “will always support Israel’s right to self-defence,” a right Trevelyan did not afford to armed Palestinians whom she labelled “terrorists.”
Liz Saville Roberts, Plaid Cymru’s parliamentary group leader, called on the UK government to ban imports of Israeli goods sourced from occupied territories. Andy McDonald, Labour MP for Middlesborough, read out the names of two Palestinans, Nouruddin Husam Yousef Marshoud, 15, Majdi Younis Saud Ararawi, 17, who were killed by Israeli snipers on July 3rd.
“Their names join a list of more than 30 Palestinian children killed by the Israeli regime since the beginning of 2023,” he said. “The ultimate cause of these census killings is Israel’s brutal and illegal occupation of Palestine.”
Trevelyn was pressed repeatedly on the issue of arms sales by the small number of MPs present, but at all times failed to respond directly.
“War against the Palestinian people.”
In recent months, the occupation of Palestinian land by Israeli armed forces and settlers has grown ever more extreme.
In June this year, Israel’s far-right government approved plans to build thousands of new homes in illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, in a move that a Palestinian official decried as part of an “open war against the Palestinian people.”
As part of the brutal occupation, many Palestinian towns and cities are even having their water cut off by Israel’s national water company, Mekerot.
In response, an increasing number of Palestinian youth have taken up arms against Israel.
Along with Gaza, Jenin has now become a key symbol of Palestinian resistance.
Anti-boycott bill
In Britain, where the government has sold some £500 million worth of arms to Israel since 2015, the ability to protest the Israeli regime could be significantly curtailed if new legislation is passed.
The Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill, which was given initial approval of MPs on Monday, seeks to prevent public bodies, including councils, from campaigning against, boycotting or sanctioning a particular international territory – unless it is endorsed by the UK government’s own foreign policy.
Whilst the bill – dubbed the ‘anti-boycott bill’- targets political campaigning against any country, it is also specifically aimed at the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel – a key tool of international solidarity with Palestine.
Beth Winter was one of only 10 Labour MPs to vote against the legislation. All of Plaid Cymru’s MPs voted against the measures, as did the SNP, but Labour ordered its MPs to abstain after its amendment fell.
Seven Palestine Action activists are also currently detained across British prisons. Four of them have been imprisoned since December 2022 for taking action to dismantle Teledyne Labtech, a Welsh factory belonging to American-owned Teledyne, the largest exporter by volume of weapons from Britain to Israel. On Monday 26th June, three of the four were sentenced to 23 months, whilst the other was given a sentence of 27 months.
Prominent figures including Palestinians, celebrities, politicians, academics and legal professionals are now calling for the release of the prisoners and charges to be dropped against over 100 more who face prison.
Freedom Flotilla
Against this backdrop Palestine solidarity activity is set to ramp up over the coming weeks.
On Friday, a ship headed for Gaza will dock in Cardiff as part of a European tour organised by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition to raise awareness of the 16 year blockade.
The arrival of the Handala into Cardiff Bay will see a number of events organised by Cardiff Palestine Solidarity Campaign over the weekend.
Crew members, which include Palestinans and their supporters, will take part in a picnic in Bute Park, a public meeting with Beth Winter MP and a protest following the raid on Jenin. *Full schedule detailed below
Meanwhile in early August, the Big Ride for Palestine is coming to Wales, an annual event which describes itself as “by supporters of the Palestinian people that combines a love of cycling with practical solidarity and awareness raising.” This year’s ride – which kicks off on 3rd August and is open for the public to register for – sees cyclists travel from Swansea to Cardiff and commemorates 75 since the Nakba and the beginning of the occupation.
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*Schedule of the Freedom Flotilla’s arrival in Cardiff:
Friday 7th July
Sometime between 11 and 1pm – Greet the boat as it comes through the barrage locks at Cardiff Bay.Saturday 8th July
Saturday 8th July
12 Noon – Emergency Protest – Hands Off Jenin, End the Blockade, Nye Bevan Statue, Cardiff.
2pm – 4pm(ish) – Palestine Picnic – Gorsedd Stones behind castle in Bute Park.
7pm – 9pm – Public meeting in Temple of Peace, chaired by Mairead Canavan of RCT PSC and speaker Beth Winter, MP for Cynon Valley + others to be confirmed.
Sunday 9th July
1pm – 4pm – Info stall and visits to Handala, Cardiff Bay
Monday 10th July
10am(ish) – Handala will depart for Bristol.
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