Opinion: Time to chart a new path to peace

As Greens we know that local people are rightly appalled by the shocking scenes we have been witnessing.

Peterborough Greens will be seconding a motion that has been submitted for the next full council meeting on the 24th January asking council to call for a ceasefire.

The horrific loss of Israeli civilian lives on October 7th has been compounded by months of devastation for the people of Gaza and the occupied West Bank, leading to over 23,000 deaths and an escalating risk of war spreading through the region.

Now is the time to search for new peace initiatives that can break this cycle of pain and create the conditions for lasting peace in the region.

We urge Parliament to force an urgent debate on the ”dangerous escalation" in the Middle East that has seen the UK attack Houthi Rebels in Yemen. Although this was the result of attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea, it is a dangerous escalation taken without the approval of Parliament. The conflict is already spreading across Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and elsewhere. These attacks risk inflaming tensions and sparking further attacks.

We need the UK government to work to restore trust in the international institutions designed to protect people that offer peaceful, legal and diplomatic avenues to end conflicts. We believe the government must;

*unequivocally call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza to allow the free flow of humanitarian aid, the freeing of hostages and to create the space for dialogue.

* Support the UN General Assembly in its overwhelming backing for a ceasefire and use its position as a permanent member of the UN Security Council to vote for rather than abstain on ceasefire votes.

* Support the role of the International Criminal Court in its investigation of war crimes, including the use of sexual violence by Hamas and disproportionate use of force by the Israeli government.

* Support South Africa in its decision to ask the International Court of Justice to rule on whether Israel is carrying out genocide in Gaza.

* Help reduce military action by suspending arms sales to Israel.

It will take courage and determination to change course and recognise that UK foreign policy is failing to bring this conflict to an end. But a change of course now can help chart a new path to peace.

Locally MP Paul Bristow has used his last two Speakers Corner columns to suggest that Peterborough Green party has said his campaign to move asylum seekers from the Great Northern Hotel is racist.

We have not said any such thing but Paul will be well aware of that anyway. We certainly questioned some of the divisive language he had been using, and we maintain that in this regard he needs to be more responsible.

Words can have consequences and those consequences can be harmful to people.

In what is likely to be a General Election year, it is disappointing to see the MP start the year with misleading statements about other local political parties.