It is customary to thank the member who has brought the debate to the chamber and, of course, I do that. I also thank him for securing cross-party support for the motion. However, I can say on behalf of the Government and possibly on behalf of the chamber that this is a debate that we would rather not be having.
Across the chamber, the tone of what has been a very difficult and quite rightly emotional debate has been exemplary; I think that we have done well in that regard. It has often been said that conflict is in our nature. In the pages of history, humanity has never had a time without some sort of conflict. However, I believe that empathy is also very much a part of our human nature. Even the hardest and coldest hearts cannot fail to be moved by the scenes of devastation and destruction that we have seen unfolding in the Gaza strip.
Members across the chamber have mentioned the statistics—of course, there is a story behind every single one. Almost 2,000 Gazans have been killed and the UN suspects that the vast majority of them have been civilian deaths; 458 children have been killed; 1.5 million people have no or very limited access to water; 200,000 people in the Gaza strip are in need of emergency food aid; over 65,000 people have been made homeless; the health system is on the verge of complete and utter collapse, with 24 health facilities either damaged or facing acute shortages of medicine.
The Scottish Government cannot and will not stand idly by while this takes place. We must be proactive and unequivocal in the messages that we deliver. Of course we condemn all violence. Every single member who has stood up has condemned all the violence and the Scottish Government joins them in that. Make no mistake about it: rockets that are fired into Israel are wrong. They are designed to injure and to kill indiscriminately. This Government says that they must stop, and must stop now. Everybody agrees, of course, that Israel has a right to live in security and safety. However, it must be widely recognised and stated on the record that the Israeli Government’s response has been utterly and completely disproportionate and it must be condemned in the strongest possible manner for that. Those who fail to condemn it—there are some on these islands who have failed to condemn it—are doing themselves, but also humanity, an injustice. A provocation—and yes, there is provocation—does not relieve one of accountability for how one chooses to respond.
We all believe that an immediate and long-term ceasefire is needed. We have seen a ceasefire extend beyond the 72-hour period and we all hope that it extends into a long-term ceasefire. We need those who are firing rockets into Israel to put down their weapons immediately and the Israeli Government to cease its fire, but we must also consider the inhumanity of the situation and ensure that a ceasefire, though it is important in terms of dropping and stopping the weapon fire, means that the blockade is lifted. Gaza is, as some have said, an open-air prison. Those are not my words but the words of the Prime Minister, David Cameron, in 2010. It is an open-air prison and it is collective punishment.
Although powers over foreign affairs are by and large reserved to the UK Government, the Scottish Government has been decisive in its action. I will try to respond to some of the questions that members asked in the debate. We have donated £500,000 to the UNRWA flash appeal for shelter and medicine. It is important that we did that. Although we do not have a ring-fenced budget for emergency aid, we cannot stand idly by. I urge people to continue to donate. The DEC has launched an appeal and people can find more information on how to donate on its website.
One of the first offers that we made was of medical assistance and opening up our hospitals for medical treatment. Some members mentioned that they have been contacted about a delay. The Scottish Government had a teleconference last week with the director of Medical Aid for Palestinians in Gaza. We told him about the specialisms that we have in Scotland, but we also heard about the priorities of cases in Gaza. The next step is for the consultants on the ground in Gaza to give us a list of their priority cases that they need to be treated. However, make no mistake about it—the Scottish Government faces exactly the same obstacles as anybody else. There is an illegal and inhumane blockade of Gaza and we are experiencing difficulty in bringing people to Scotland.
That said, I have received a letter from the Prime Minister in response to the First Minister’s letter on the situation and, at the end of his letter, the Prime Minister says that the UK intends also to offer its hospitals, as we called on it to do, to treat the injured of Gaza. He was aware of the offer from Scottish hospitals. I therefore hope that, logistically, we will have some assistance from the UK Government. I assure all members in the chamber that we are doing our utmost to treat those injured in Gaza, where and when we can do so.
The UK Government must bring more urgency to its actions. The First Minister called for that in his letter to the Prime Minister. Unfortunately, the UK has been painfully silent and too stagnant in its actions. I spoke to Baroness Warsi on the night when she chose to leave the Government, which would have been a painfully difficult decision for her. I commended her on her actions but agreed with her entirely that the UK Government’s position on Gaza has been painfully silent and indefensible. If it cannot be stronger on the issue, then at the very least we urge that the UK and all of us should not be complicit in any of the atrocities that are taking place in the Gaza strip. That is why we called for an immediate arms embargo.
The UN has said that there is a strong possibility that international law has been violated. Ban Ki-moon, after the shelling of the UN shelter in Rafah, said that that was a moral outrage and a criminal act. There must be an embargo. Cara Hilton was right to raise the point about the plant in Fife. Make no mistake about it: whether that company is Scottish, English, Northern Irish or Welsh, we believe that there should be a complete arms embargo, and it is disgraceful that profit is being put above compassion.
Sandra White, Alison Johnstone and other members asked us to look at the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014. I know that that campaign has gone to the Deputy First Minister, who is looking at it and is exploring what can be done in relation to illegal settlements. It should be put very much on the record that the UK Government’s guidance does not encourage or support trade with illegal settlements.
I will address a point that Ken Macintosh and others made. If the Jewish community in Glasgow feels that it is perhaps the victim of anti-Semitism because of the rising tensions in the middle east, I assure it that the Scottish Government will stand with it. Any anti-Semitism is to be absolutely abhorred. I spoke to the Lord Advocate about the issue this morning and I give the assurance that I will speak to him again, so that we continue to monitor the situation.
I will end with a story. Sometimes, we get caught up in statistics and forget that there is a story behind every statistic. This is not about being pro-Israeli or pro-Palestinian; at its base, it is about being pro-humanitarian. I urge everybody to read the story, if they can, of a mother by the name of Wejdan Shammalla who moved back to Khan Yunis in the Gaza strip. We have to hear her story to believe it. She has three children and she asks all of us to think of our own children, our nieces and nephews or our grandchildren and imagine that we have three of them. Every night before she goes to sleep, she must ask herself whether all three children should sleep in her bed with her and her husband so that, if a rocket hits the house, they will all die together as a family, or whether she should split the children—as she does some nights; would we do that in her situation?—and have two with her and one with her husband so that, if a missile hits, perhaps some of them will survive. If someone has to split up their children, how do they choose which children to put in which room? No parent and no individual should have to make such a choice.
The Scottish Government calls for the immediate lifting of the blockade. The solution should be political, not military. Settlements are illegal and should be removed. We support the two-state solution. Israel has of course a right to safety and security, but at the heart of the injustice over the decades has been the utter denial of a viable Palestinian state.
Above and beyond the politics is the humanitarian. The Scottish Government stands and unites with every member across the chamber to say that children are not terrorists, whether they are playing on a beach, feeding pigeons or sleeping in a UN shelter. Innocent civilians must never be targeted. That is why we call for an immediate UN investigation into the killing of civilians, so that those who have possibly been violating international law feel the full force of international justice.
Meeting closed at 18:28.