Brian Stanley Calls for ICC Action and Palestinian Self-Determination
Brian Stanley condemned Israel's conduct in Gaza and the West Bank and expressed deep scepticism of the Trump-backed peace plan, arguing Palestinians must be central to any settlement. He called for Palestinian-led policing, a UN-led stabilisation force, EU sanctions, passage of the Occupied Territories Bill and referral of Israeli leaders to the International Criminal Court.
In his speech the speaker described 78 years of occupation and listed exile, murder, torture and apartheid as part of the Palestinian experience. He said the past 24 months have seen "levels of depravity never witnessed by my generation" with aerial bombardments, mass slaughter, starvation and neighbourhoods flattened, and warned of an unknown number of people buried in rubble. He cited figures from the West Bank including 7,000 illegal settlers and over 700 people murdered in the last two years, and noted six million Palestinians are exiled as refugees.
He said he was sceptical of the peace plan because it was created by those who have armed and financed Israel and who have used Israel as a regional policeman. He specifically criticised what he called "Trump's board of peace" and warned the plan showed signs of Western powers seeking to maintain influence and control in the region, while expressing hope it could be changed to work for Palestinians.
He insisted Palestinians must be central to developments in their own lands and said the Palestinian Authority should be reformed and fully involved. He demanded the new police force be made up of Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank with local consent, questioned whether any international stabilisation force should be UN-led, and urged the government to raise its voice on that point. He also called for the release of all hostages, including Palestinian detainees, and for Israeli leaders to be brought before the International Criminal Court.
He urged the passage of the Occupied Territories Bill and immediate action on EU sanctions, saying the government should move quickly to implement bans and press for coordinated European measures. He asked the government to use its remaining neutrality and credibility to place Palestinian self-determination at the core of proposals and to advance calls for Palestinian statehood and a two-state solution.
Allegations of atrocities and humanitarian impact
In his speech the speaker described 78 years of occupation and listed exile, murder, torture and apartheid as part of the Palestinian experience. He said the past 24 months have seen "levels of depravity never witnessed by my generation" with aerial bombardments, mass slaughter, starvation and neighbourhoods flattened, and warned of an unknown number of people buried in rubble. He cited figures from the West Bank including 7,000 illegal settlers and over 700 people murdered in the last two years, and noted six million Palestinians are exiled as refugees.
Criticism of the peace plan and international influence
He said he was sceptical of the peace plan because it was created by those who have armed and financed Israel and who have used Israel as a regional policeman. He specifically criticised what he called "Trump's board of peace" and warned the plan showed signs of Western powers seeking to maintain influence and control in the region, while expressing hope it could be changed to work for Palestinians.
Demands for Palestinian-led security and legal accountability
He insisted Palestinians must be central to developments in their own lands and said the Palestinian Authority should be reformed and fully involved. He demanded the new police force be made up of Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank with local consent, questioned whether any international stabilisation force should be UN-led, and urged the government to raise its voice on that point. He also called for the release of all hostages, including Palestinian detainees, and for Israeli leaders to be brought before the International Criminal Court.
Domestic legislative and diplomatic requests
He urged the passage of the Occupied Territories Bill and immediate action on EU sanctions, saying the government should move quickly to implement bans and press for coordinated European measures. He asked the government to use its remaining neutrality and credibility to place Palestinian self-determination at the core of proposals and to advance calls for Palestinian statehood and a two-state solution.
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Transcript
Thanks for your luck. Minister Afterward, 78 years of occupation, Palestinians driven after land, hounded, subjected to exile, murder, torture, apartheid and the list goes on. In the past 24 months we have seen levels of depravity never witnessed by my generation. Aerial bombardments, the slaughter on a scale that words can't describe, starvation, neighbourhoods bombed out of existence and flattened by the war criminals of Israel. There is an unknown amount of people buried beneath the rubble. In the West Bank, 7,000 illegal settlers lived there after driving Palestinians off their land. Over 700 people murdered in the last two years by Israeli terrorists in the West Bank. Six million Palestinians are exiled as refugees outside of Palestine. And now we have a peace plan. And the peace plan, I have concerns about the peace plan, because it is created by the very people who have armed, who have armed and supported and financed Israel and who have used Israel for the last 78 years as their policeman in the West. I am sceptical about it, unfortunately, about Trump's board of peace. It is all the signs of the Western powers trying to maintain their influence and control in the region. I hope that it can be turned into a peace plan that can work, but it needs to be changed. Palestinians must be central to all developments in their own lands. The Palestinian Authority, yes, must be reformed and fully involved. The new police force has to be Palestinians from their own neighbourhoods, from Gaza and from the West Bank, to police the areas, with the consent of the people of those areas. To have concerns about the international stabilisation force. Should it not be a UN force? And I have asked the government to raise its voice on that. International stabilisation force made up of who? The Yanks, and who else? And driven by them and controlled by them. I would ask our government, and in just a short minute that I have to conclude, I would ask you, Minister, and the government here as a neutral, we still have a bit of neutrality left, and we still have some credibility left, and we need to use this. I would ask that the government would use this advice to ensure that Palestinian self-determination is at the core of all proposals for Palestine, and all possible efforts are made to advance the case for Palestinian statehood, and yes, the two-state solution, and yes, the release of all hostages, including the Palestinian hostages that are held by Israel in unhuman conditions in Israeli prisons, and ensure that Israel is brought to the International Criminal Court of Justice, particularly Netanyahu and his ministers, who need to be brought on trial for the war crimes they are committed. We must pass the Occupied Territories Bill here, and continue to press for EU sanctions, and we must do like other EU countries now, and ban, move with that bill quickly, and implement those sanctions ourselves, but also at a European level minister, and I would ask that the government use its offices to do that as quickly as possible.