The Green Party Groups on Norwich City Council and Norfolk County Council call for an immediate ceasefire to end the violence, and an end to the illegal occupation in Palestine.
The awful attacks committed by Hamas on 7 October were acts of brutal violence, and the hostages must be released unconditionally; at the same time, military actions that break international law should not be justified.
The current bloodshed, which must be seen within a context of decades of violence and injustice, must come to an end.
Over 700 civilians are being killed every day, including one child every ten minutes. The dire humanitarian situation is clearly intolerable, and an immediate ceasefire and humanitarian relief efforts are essential to protect the lives of innocent people.
Many of our residents have been reaching out to us as councillors to ask us to condemn the unacceptable violence sadly unfolding in the region. We are deeply concerned that neither the UK government nor the national and local leadership of the Labour Party have joined international calls for a ceasefire.
The Gaza ceasefire call has the backing of the United Nations, humanitarian aid agencies, three quarters of the British public, and an overwhelming number of countries, including Ireland and France. In this country, hundreds of thousands have been out on the streets peacefully calling for an end to the violence.
The long absence of meaningful political dialogue and of a peace process to end the illegal occupation has created a vacuum, which has been filled by those who offer violence as a solution. We call on all parties to push for an internationally arbitrated once-and-for-all settlement that fully ends the occupation of Palestinian territories, in accordance with the requirements of international law, that culminates in a two-state solution.
We also express our solidarity with everyone in Norwich affected by the ongoing violence, and condemn all forms of racism, including anti-Palestinian racism, antisemitism and Islamophobia. We hope that the other political groups at Norwich City Council will do the same and back our calls for a ceasefire.
Since the start of this conflict, Green Party councillors in Norwich have been raising this issue as a matter of urgency at Norwich City Council, calling on the Labour leadership of the council to publicly support a ceasefire in Palestine. To this date, we have submitted three questions to the leadership and proposed a motion in support of a ceasefire. All but one question (specifically regarding the choice to light up City Hall with the flag of Israel) were rejected, meaning they cannot be heard or debated.