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Sir Keir Starmer is under growing pressure to challenge Donald Trump over his plans to turn Gaza into his latest real estate project.
It comes as 68 Labour MPs wrote to him demanding he takes a stand against Mr Trump’s “ethnic cleansing” of Gaza in the biggest public backlash within the party against the prime minister since Labour won the election.
Sir Keir attempted to avoid condemnation of the US president when he was confronted on the issue during Prime Minister’s Questions but Downing Street confirmed the PM planned to talk to the US president over the shock plans.
Asked whether it was accepted that the UK’s position is at odds with the US president’s suggestions that America could take ownership of the Gaza Strip, the prime minister’s official spokesperson said: “We will work with President Trump and his team on a wide range of issues, including the Middle East.”
However, the tepid response has gone down badly in his own party as Labour MPs made their feelings known in a missive to the prime minister.
The letter by 68 MPs led by Rosena Allin-Khan noted that the plans by Mr Trump to take over Gaza and move Palestinians elsewhere “amounts to ethnic cleansing”.
They went on: “The world intervened in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s and roundly condemned ethnic cleansing in Rwanda. We must meet these plans to remove millions of Palestinians from their homes, naked as they are, with the same robust response.
“Given the horrors which we have seen take place across Gaza in recent months, the international community should be focusing on ensuring Phase 2 of the ceasefire agreement materialises. These barbaric proposals by President Trump seriously risk destabilising the region and wrecking the ceasefire agreement. The result of this will be a return to war, more death and destruction in Gaza, and hostage release negotiations collapsing.”
They demanded: “The government must commit to honouring its commitments under international law to prevent war crimes, such as ethnic cleansing. President Trump has taken a sledgehammer to the international order and the peace process in the Middle East can only succeed with the full support of the international community, including the United States.”
The row erupted after President Trump’s press conference with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu where he suggested that the US would be taking control of Gaza.
He told reporters in the White House: “The US will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it, too. We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site.
“If it’s necessary, we’ll do that, we’re going to take over that piece, we’re going to develop it, create thousands and thousands of jobs, and it’ll be something that the entire Middle East can be very proud of.”
The move appeared to reflect a strategic colonisation policy of the new Trump administration which has so far included taking back ownership of the Panama Canal, forcing Denmark to sell Greenland and making Canada the 51st state of the USA.
The plan received support in Israel but has been condemned around the world including by Middle East partners Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan.
But Sir Keir failed to condemn the US president and instead reiterated the UK’s position that it supports a two-state solution and the return of Palestinians to the region.
The Downing Street spokesperson was unable to give a specific date for when Sir Keir and Mr Trump will next speak but there were concerns that the prime minister may be afraid to properly confront the White House on the issue or criticise the president.
During PMQs, Sir Keir was challenged for his response by Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey.
The prime minister said: “The most important issue on the ceasefire is, obviously that it’s sustained, and we see it through the phases. And that means that the remaining hostages come out, and the aid that’s desperately needed gets into Gaza at speed and at the volumes that are needed.
“I have from the last few weeks two images fixed in my mind. The first is the image of Emily Damari reunited with her mother, which I found extremely moving.
“The second was the image of thousands of Palestinians walking, literally walking through the rubble, to try to find their homes and their communities in Gaza.
“They must be allowed home. They must be allowed to rebuild, and we should be with them in that rebuild, on the way to a two-state solution.”
Asked whether Sir Keir was afraid of criticising Mr Trump in case it jeopardised a potential UK-US trade deal, the spokesperson said: “We’re working with President Trump and his team on a wide range of issues.”
Sir Keir’s caution comes after a bruising start to Mr Trump’s second term in the White House with the president threatening to veto a deal to return the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, a refusal to accept Lord Mandelson as the UK’s ambassador to the US and hinting at possible tariffs.
But opposition parties are pressuring the prime minister to get tougher.
In a letter to foreign secretary David Lammy, green co-leader Carla Denyer wrote: “You will be aware of US President Trump’s comments yesterday about the future of Gaza – remarks which are dangerous, inflammatory and unlawful in their content.”
Source: independent.co.uk
