Lyn Brown MP was unable to make a contribution to the debate on the Crisis in Gaza in the House of Commons Chamber on Thursday 12 January, despite being present in the Chamber for the entirety of the debate. As expected, a large number of MPs attended the debate hoping to make a contribution in the short period for debate.

As a relatively new Member of the House of Commons, having been elected at the last General Election, the conventions of the House of Commons generally mean that longer-serving MPs are called to speak first by the Speaker.

For a copy of the speech that Lyn intended to make, please see below.

Lyn Brown’s Draft Speech for Topical Debate on Gaza

I sat in front of my TV over Christmas and New Year watching the horrific and tragic events unfold in Gaza.

I know that I will be repeating much of what has been said before – but many of my constituents have written to me and they deserve to hear my voice raised to condemn the disproportionate attack by Israel on Gaza and my calls for economic sanctions and an arms embargo.

As a community we watched pictures showing the distress, fear and grief of the Gazan people. Sickening pictures of the dead and gravely injured. 40% of the dead are women and children – not combatants.

Calls by world leaders for a ceasefire have been ignored.

The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) is an advanced and well equipped army. Israel is a relatively wealthy nation. It has pulverised the Gaza Strip, a poor place, a small densely populated territory. It is not a military engagement between two equally matched forces.

Instead it is a conflict where the rules of engagement followed by the IDF are reportedly the most uncompromising that have ever been issued.

The International Committee of the Red Cross states that the IDF has failed to meet its obligations under humanitarian law to care for and evacuate the wounded. And we have seen footage of what appears to be phosphorus shells being fired, in what I understand to be in contravention of international law. I would be grateful if the Minister, in summing up, would address phosphorus shells, and the legality of their use.

Let’s be clear. Neither side observed the 6 month truce. I do not and will not dismiss the rockets fired by Palestinian militants into Southern Israel as inconsequential. They are an indiscriminate weapon targeted at a civilian population and they do terrorise Israeli civilians. The rocket attacks are completely unacceptable.

But let us also recall that whilst the ceasefire was in place the IDF made, oft deadly, incursions into the Gaza Strip. And throughout the ceasefire and 12 months beforehand, Gaza was subject to a blockade, again an indiscriminate weapon targeted at a civilian population.

One of the excruciating aspects of the humanitarian plight of the Gazans is that they have nowhere to flee – the borders are tightly sealed. They are trapped.

There are 30,000 people sheltering in UN sponsored schools – and we know how safe that is.

And given the dreadful human cost of this action, one of the most awful aspects is that is appears wantonly pointless.

What is the aim?

To punish Hamas – and then what?

To show the military superiority of the Israelis to the Palestinian people? - Was there any doubt.

What is the exit strategy? I can’t believe there is one. 59w

Our Government’s response has been clear in its call for an immediate ceasefire.

This call has been echoed worldwide. A UN resolution has been passed. But Israeli troops continue to advance ever deeper into Gaza and pound it from the air.

Surely it is time to stop supplying arms to Israel.

Surely it is time for us to re-examine our economic relationships.

As I understand it - the EU Association Agreement is important to Israel’s economy

Well I think there needs to be a minimum price for this trade agreement, and that price must be the expectation that with such a right comes responsibility – a responsibility to abide by international law and uphold basic humanitarian principles.

I want to see the EU Association Agreement suspended. Economic sanctions surely the most effective tool in our non-violent arsenal.

I welcome the Foreign Secretary’s comments on Monday regarding the investigation of the serious allegations of misconduct by combatants from both sides.

I hope he may feel able to support the calls of UN officials for a full United Nations backed investigation into the bombing of Palestinian schools by Israel.

I also want to secure the Foreign Secretary’s support for any move by the UN General Assembly to refer Israel’s conduct to the International Court of Justice.

The sad thing about this horrendous loss of life and extraordinary misery wrecked on this small land is that it will not bring the Israeli’s what they want.  

It will not bring them peace. The Israeli’s have not and cannot stop Hamas from firing rockets into Southern Israel. Their military campaign has killed a thousand, injured many thousands more and perhaps, saddest of all, it has killed, possibly for a generation, any hopes, still held, that there may yet be peace in the region.

I fear that Israel’s display of overwhelming force will underline the message preached by Hamas and Hizbollah that violence is the only language that Israel understands.  And as a media commentator observed earlier this week, in responding to militant rocket fire, Israel's right to do something doesn't give it the right to do anything.