Shabana Mahmood received huge applause at the Labour Party conference when she declared the UK will offer safe and legal routes to resettlement for ‘Afghan women and girls and Palestinian refugees fleeing war and persecution.’
(https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-resettlement-scheme-reopens-for-new-referrals )
Many in the British public were also thrilled to hear this news, having been horrified by what's unfolding in Gaza over the last 3 years, the relentless suffering of the Palestinian civilians there at the hand of the Israeli military, with the complicity of the British government, not to say abetting it.
But members of Communities for Palestinians UK who wrote to IRAP* seeking clarifications and details about the process, received the response below, indicating that the scheme would not offer a safe haven for any Gazans at all.
Communities for Palestinians is a grassroots organisation preparing communities across the UK to welcome Palestinian families from Gaza for respite and recovery,and help them integrate into British society as was successfully done with refugees from Syria, Afghanistan and the Ukraine in a true British humanistic spirit.
CfP had strong links with Palestinians from Gaza, many who are still stuck there under extremely harsh and life threatening conditions, some are waiting in limbo, without a status or any rights, in other Middle Eastern countries, mainly Egypt, and some who are already in the UK with Humanitarian Leave or Refugee status, but are separated from their families who are still in Gaza, because the Family Reunification scheme has been frozen.
here is IRAP reply:
Hello,
Thank you for your inquiry. The UK is launching a program to make resettlement accessible to Palestinian refugees located in Jordan and Lebanon. Under this program, IRAP will be able to refer a very small number of extremely urgent humanitarian cases to the UK for consideration for resettlement. These cases will be referred to IRAP by humanitarian organizations in Jordan and Lebanon and IRAP will conduct assessment interviews. To learn more, visit IRAP’s legal information site: https://support.iraplegalinfo.org/hc/en-us/articles/54107243042580-What-is-the-Palestinian-resettlement-program-to-the-UK .
Thank you!
IRAP Team
Does the Home Secretary think she can tick the box of helping Palestinians without offering a hand to Gazans?! Does she think that the British public, who have been showing its support for the Palestinians and its anger about the war on Gaza by marching on Britain's streets in its hundreds of thousands for 3 years, will accept what appears to be an empty conference gesture to win back Labour voters and members? British communities are ready and willing to welcome the families they have identified, at little cost to the public purse and no bother to public services, using the magnificent generosity and energy of willing communities. Their families are living under daily bombing, counting the days they may survive. Their children succumb to terror and trauma as killing intensifies.
The communities are desperate to work constructively with the UK government. They cannot understand why their offer to help is not being seized with open arms.
We are certain that the British public will demand answers from the Home Secretary if she does not instruct IRAP to include Gazan families among those accepted under the UKRS in the very near future. This is Labour's chance to repair the damaged reputation of the UK government over the war on Gaza, as pointed out by the PM Andy Burnham and by Ed Miliband, the Foreign Secretary.
End
Notes to the editor:
Vicky Moller, founder of Communities for Palestinians (Wales) 07791 809810; Tirza Waisel CfP (London) 07957-486 379
*) IRAP = International Refugees Assistance Project, which Shabana Mahmood named as the organisation that will register and vet Palestinian refugees for resettlement in the UK under the UK Resettlement Scheme (UKRS) she reopened with immediate effect.
See Communities for Palestinians website: https://www.communities-for-palestinians.co.uk/. We currently have 12 community groups around the UK in varying degrees of preparations, some rural and some in urban areas.
CfP letter to IRAP 30.9.26
Communities for Palestinians have sent an urgent letter to Andy Burnham on his first day in office as PM, preceded by the same letter signed by 48 MPs, led by Simon Opher MP, urging him to ensure that Palestinians from Gaza would be included in the first phase of the Named Community Sponsorship scheme. This letter was signed by 100+ prominent British citizens whose signatures were collected within 4-5 days, and was followed by a petition to the same effect which reached over a thousand signatures in the first 8 days.
