Legal experts<\/a> wrote to the prime minister in September asserting that the settlement ban fell short of Britain\u2019s legal obligations. They asked for sanctions to be extended to more sectors of Israel\u2019s economy, citing the UK\u2019s harsh sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. They called for a full arms embargo against Israel.<\/p>\n There is no doubt that the foreign secretary\u2019s settlement ban has many shortcomings. It will make no material difference to Britain\u2019s relations with Israel \u2013 British officials are reported<\/a> to have assured Washington ahead of the announcement that the trade ban was \u2018largely symbolic\u2019. It will not put an end to Israel\u2019s genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, and signals no real change of heart towards Israel.<\/p>\n Had that been so, Britain could have imposed a total arms embargo, suspended the UK-Israel trade agreement, ended its security cooperation, put sanctions on the Israeli government for its illegal occupation, or at the very least have named Israel\u2019s actions in Gaza a genocide.<\/p>\n A landmark event<\/p>\n Without doubt, the British decision was forced on the government by the mounting pressure from a mass Palestine solidarity movement that has swept the country since October 2023 without abating. It was the decent, principled men and women who marched regularly in British cities for the cause of Palestine to this very day who did it.<\/p>\n With them were the civil society institutions, university students, academics, intellectuals, artists, trade unions, teachers\u2019 groups, and churchgoers who all voiced their support for Palestine.<\/p>\n And yet, despite these caveats, Britain\u2019s decision should not be dismissed out of hand. For the first time, it calls Israel\u2019s assaults on the occupied West Bank ethnic cleansing by name, and accepts without prevarication the International Court of Justice\u2019s ruling that Israel\u2019s occupation of the Palestinian territories is illegal.<\/p>\n Unlike past rhetorical statements, these assertions are backed by action.<\/p>\n No matter how ineffective against Israel\u2019s illegal settlements the UK decision turns out to be, it cannot detract from its significance. That the very state which created Israel has now started on the road to its repudiation is a landmark event. It sets a precedent for others to follow, augments the tidal wave of worldwide Palestinian support, and contributes to a unique historical moment of global recognition and acknowledgement.<\/p>\n That being so, the urgent question for Palestinians now is how to harness all that popular support towards ending their ordeal. What Palestinian representative individual or body will exploit this golden opportunity?<\/p>\n Leadership<\/p>\n To meet the challenge Palestinians need good leaders and a defined aim. As things stand, they have neither. They are not sufficiently organised or united around a common national goal and an agreed leadership. Slogans about liberation, statehood, and the right of return are no substitute for an agreed objective and a strategy of how to get there.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Long-term disunity amongst Palestinians and a DIY approach to solving the Palestine problem, where each individual or group comes up with their own solutions, have led to a vacuum of ideas about the future.<\/p>\n The best-known solutions put forward so far have no majority support amongst Palestinians, neither the two-state proposal of Israel and Palestine \u2018living side by side\u2019, nor the one-state solution, whether secular democratic or binational. As a result, most Palestinians are left hoping that some unforeseen event or outside agency can solve the problem.<\/p>\n This is no way to take advantage of a unique moment in world history that could benefit the Palestinian cause as never before. But it is the inevitable and pernicious consequence of Zionist colonisation.<\/p>\n The Zionist takeover of Palestine in 1948 caused a refugee exodus of a majority of Palestine\u2019s population. It ended in Palestinian fragmentation and social disruption for what had been a historically settled, homogeneous population living in its homeland.<\/p>\n Palestinians today have become separate communities living in different places, which have inevitably transformed their character. Camp-dwelling refugees are different to settled Palestinians, who are different to each other according to the country where they reside. Inside Palestine, Israeli Arab citizens are different to West Bank dwellers, who are different again to people living in Gaza.<\/p>\n
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