Plaid Cymru table motion calling for immediate ceasefire in Gaza
Emily Price
Plaid Cymru have tabled a Senedd motion calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and Israel.
It comes following an impassioned plea from Plaid Cymru MS, Mabon ap Gwynfor who this week called for the Welsh Government to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
Speaking in the Senedd on Tuesday (October 24), the Trefnydd Lesley Griffiths was criticised for claiming that international affairs are outside of the Welsh Government’s remit.
The Irish and Scottish governments have already called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
The Gaza Strip has been hit by devastating Israeli air strikes in retaliation to Hamas militants who launched an attack on Israel on October 7.
Critics have accused Israel of indiscriminately killing civilians and committing war crimes by cutting off essential supplies like food, water and fuel.
The motion tabled on Wednesday (October 25) proposes that the Senedd:
- Condemns the horrifying attacks carried out by Hamas against Israeli civilians and calls for the immediate release of hostages.
- Notes that Israel has a duty to ensure the protection, security and welfare of its citizens and the occupied Palestinian population.
- Condemns the Israeli Government’s indiscriminate attacks on Gaza, resulting in the death of thousands of innocent Palestinian civilians and agrees with the
United Nations Secretary-General that collective punishment of the Palestinian people cannot be justified.
It also calls on the international community to:
- Unite in seeking an immediate ceasefire to end the human suffering and allow humanitarian organisations to reach those in need;
- Bring pressure to bear on the Israeli Government to end the siege of Gaza which contravenes international law and the basic human rights of Palestinian
civilians: - Do everything within its power to create safe and meaningful aid corridors into the Gaza Strip and enable safe passage out of the region.
- Stands in solidarity with the Israeli and Palestinian communities in Wales affected by the conflict.
- Urges the Senedd to support a two-state solution in order to pursue lasting peace in the region.
Lives
A Plaid Cymru spokesperson said: “We hope the motion receives widespread cross-party support to send a message of unity, humanity and lasting peace for Israelis and Palestinians.”
Labour MS for Newport East, John Griffiths said members of all parties recognise the need for a ceasefire in Gaza.
He said: “It’s heartbreaking to follow the unfolding events in Israel and Gaza, with the loss of so many innocent lives, including thousands of children.
“I am pleased there has been strong cross-party support in the Senedd for an end to the siege, allowing the supply of proper humanitarian aid.
“Members from all parties in Wales recognise the need for an immediate ceasefire and renewed efforts for a lasting peace and two state solution.”
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A ray of sense at last
Has Israel created the Gaza Strip ghetto as a means of incorporating the land into an enlarged Israel .
Palestinians have had the State of Israel imposed on their land by Western guilt about the Holocaust
Gaza is the Israeli Warsaw ghetto
Thank you Plaid for being the voice of Wales
Please, be careful with the choice of your words, you can’t say that the Israelites are like the Nazis, (remember that the Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin Al Husseini met Hitler in 1941…)
[I responded below; NT has somehow omitted the necessary continuity.]
The situation is not nearly as simple as you make out and it is dangerous to use words such as “ghetto” and suggest that Jewish people have no right to be there. There has ALWAYS been a Jewish presence in Israel dating back more than 2000 years. During the 19th century, there was a sizeable and growing Jewish population (which included Middle Eastern Jews by the way) alongside the Palestinian population – long before the establishment of Israel as a modern nation. I don’t know what the answer is or how they achieve peace, but beware of falling into the… Read more »
Israel only acquired the Gaza Strip from Egypt as a strategic result of their victory in the unprovoked ‘Six-day War’ of 1967, which that country’s Arab neighbours had plotted in order to overthrow the country. Israel was of course blamed by the Arabs for having forestalled their plot by destroying the enemy airforces on the ground before the combined assault could be mounted. The Strip has been a thorn in Israel’s side ever since. Incorporation of any Palestinian enclaves is not on anyone’s table; unfortunately, destruction of the State of Israel is firmly on the table in Arab and Iranian… Read more »
Both sides are as bad as the other my gran used to sayTWO WRONGS DONT MAKE A RIGHT
You have just resolved the entire Middle East crisis. Congratulations. I’m sure you are bound to win the Nobel Peace Prize!
All rather pointless in the Senedd. I agree with Lesley. Not sure why she was criticised for claiming that international affairs are outside of the Welsh Government’s remit.
The Senedd is the Parliament of the people of Wales Llyn – and it’s surely right that it expresses a view (on behalf of the people of Wales) on the awful events we recently saw in Israel and the awful events we are now seeing in Gaza
We are still British, whether you think so or not.
Are we British in the same way that Ukrainians are Russian? I haven’t got a British bone in my body I am Cymraeg and that’s it.
I think you will find (should you care to enquire) that there is more Celtic DNA in the population of Iceland than there is amongst us naturally very mixed modern Welsh. But surely you are not basing your Nationalism on ridiculous and dangerous fantasies of racial purity? Also, I must ask you the obvious counter-question: Are we at war with our English neighbours?
I have studied a great deal of archaeogenetic research in my time and nowhere have I read that there is a higher prevalence of “Celtic DNA” in Iceland than in Wales. Firstly, the “Celtic DNA” you refer to is more accurately, a Y-type haplogroup that has been identified in significant numbers in Wales, Ireland, Western England, Scotland, North East Italy, Catalonia, Galicia, the Basque country, Southwest France and Switzerland. While it is likely that it is associated with Iron-age migrations and Gaulish and ancient British populations, it is not accurate to call them Celtic, nor have I read that these… Read more »
Thanks for the interesting response. I don’t pretend to your scientific qualifications so I shan’t dispute what you say! Nevertheless, I did once hear a radio broadcast of DNA research that said there was more Celtic ancestry traceable by DNA analysis in Iceland than in modern Wales, by proportion of population. I don’t have the reference, but I don’t want you to think I’m just making up what I said – though of course I may have misunderstood. Still, I do now read online that Iceland was founded by Scottish and Irish, as well as Scandinavian settlers about 1,100 years… Read more »
The true British, before the Saxon imposters stole the term in an act of heinous cultural appropriation to try to legitimize their usurpery.
Nothing wrong with a good historical romance.
Like the time when the Brexit Party in the Senedd only banged on about Brexit (in ways which were mostly of no relevance to the Senedd’s powers) I believe the Senedd should concentrate on those powers which they hold. Btw I believe the Senedd should have more powers.
[I have been prevented from up-ticking your comment.]
Israel only acquired the Gaza Strip from Egypt as a strategic result of their victory in the unprovoked ‘Six-day War’ of 1967, which that country’s Arab neighbours had plotted in order to overthrow the country. Israel was of course blamed by the Arabs for having forestalled their plot by destroying the enemy airforces on the ground before the combined assault could be mounted. The Strip has been a thorn in Israel’s side ever since. Incorporation of any Palestinian enclaves is not on anyone’s table; unfortunately, destruction of the State of Israel is firmly on the table in Arab and Iranian… Read more »
[My comment was in response to that of G. Horton Jones. The necessary continuity was somehow omitted.]
The Plaid resolution is calling for a ceasefire – that means both sides. Continuing a war will only entrench the hatred and mean more killing of civilians.
Ceasefires do not actually conclude entrenched hostility. Greater diplomatists than we could ever claim to be have laboured long and hard to resolve the Palestine issue, yet here we are. Mr. Horton-Jones made certain glib remarks, and they were the reason for my critical comment (though NT seems to have separated my response from his original comment, as if by a Cordon Sanitaire!). But your point is decent and humane, even though such fundamental divisions as separate the warring parties here only seem to permit of an eventual armed truce, at best, as presently subsists between the two Koreas. In… Read more »
How do you ensure that Hamas (a terrorist organisation btw) sticks to the principles of a ceasefire?
They are still launching rockets into Israel 19 days on from the attack and they are refusing to release a substantial number of hostages.
A comment that is damnable by what it omits.
If you mean my response to Mr Horton Jones, then I humbly submit that I was attempting to correct certain omissions in his truncated parody of the history of this horrible and tragic situation.
If you are taking issue with my response to Mr Campbell, then I am at a loss to understand what I am supposed to have omitted from that, which might vitiate my argument.
Israel have said that they will talk about a truce but Hamas must give up all the hostages. There are about 220 hostages taken by Hamas. Since then Hamas have killed about 20. There are about 13 Britsh citizens in this total but about 5 have disappeared since Hamas took them. The SAS are in Israel ready to go in and save the hostages and the German Special Forces as Germans were taken too.
If they give up all the hostages what will be their excuse regarding the loss of the ones they have killed ?