UK Friends of Standing Together

Submission to the Labour Party National Policy Forum

Supporters of UK Friends of Standing Together have made a submission to Labour’s National Policy Forum (NPF).

The NPF is the process by which the Labour Party determines its policy. As the party of government, its especially important for grassroots Labour members who support peace and equality in Israel-Palestine to raise their voices.

If you’re a Labour member, please consider proposing that your CLP endorses this proposal. If you’re a member of another political party, please consider proposing something similar in your own party’s policy-making structures.

For Peace, Justice, and Equal Rights: A Call from UKFoST Supporters in the Labour Party

UK Friends of Standing Together (UKFoST) is a network of British supporters committed to building practical, grassroots support for Standing Together, a Jewish-Arab movement in Israel mobilising for peace, equality, and social justice. As UKFoST supporters in the Labour Party, we believe that just as Standing Together brings people together across divides to campaign for a shared future within Israel, our own government can and must play a more active role in supporting this kind of vision abroad. Labour has long stood for internationalism, equality, and human rights. We urge the party to reflect these values through a bolder, more principled policy on Israel-Palestine.

Much of the rhetoric around the conflict has been characterised by dehumanisation, especially from far-right actors in Israel and abroad. The UK government’s approach has sometimes fuelled this, by failing to consistently affirm the universal applicability of basic human rights, for example by failing to affirm the rights of Palestinian refugees in Britain and refusing to allow others to travel to Britain for urgent medical treatment.

We welcome Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s commitment to establish an International Fund for Israeli-Palestinian Peace that will support the work of anti-war, anti-occupation, pro-peace movements in Israel and Palestine working towards a future based on freedom, self-determination and equal rights for both peoples. We welcome and support the recommendations of the House of Commons International Development Committee’s report on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian territory, which would begin to address the fundamental imbalance of power and set out a path towards Palestinian self-determination. We also welcome Foreign Minister David Lammy’s support for the Arab League’s Recovery and Reconstruction Plan for Gaza.

However, pledges and reports need to be actioned in order to bring about security and freedom for all people living in Israel-Palestine. Political will and political action underpin it all. 

We therefore call on the Labour Party to:

• Advocate for the completion of all stages of the ceasefire deal in Gaza, resulting in a permanent ceasefire, release of all hostages, the withdrawal of Israeli forces and the reconstruction of Gaza for the Palestinian people.

• Oppose Donald Trump’s plan for the expulsion of Gazans from the territory; deepen UK support for the Arab Recovery and Reconstruction Plan.

• Demand the release of Palestinians held without charge in “administrative detention” and for due process for all Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.

• Demand an end to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, and for Palestinians expelled from their homes in recent military incursions to be allowed to return.

• Work to uphold the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire and against the spreading of military action to other countries in the region. 

• Immediately recognise the State of Palestine, as part of efforts to restart a genuine peace process aimed at ensuring an agreement which guarantees both peoples, Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs, self-determination and equal rights.

• Withdraw the licenses under which UK-based firms sell arms to Israel, and end trade with Israeli arms manufacturers. 

• Massively increase aid provision to the Palestinian people, especially in Gaza, and put meaningful pressure on the Israeli government to ensure the rapid passage of aid into and through Gaza and to overturn its ban on UNWRA. 

• Respect and enforce decisions and orders of the International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court, including arrest warrants.

• Take strong action against Israel’s illegal occupation and annexation of the West Bank, including ongoing settlement expansion and forced transfer of Palestinian communities. This should include barring UK charities from funding settler projects; banning the import of settlement goods; expanding sanctions on settler organisations and leaders, including ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.

• Implement the recommendations of the House of Commons International Development Committee report on “Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory”.

• Fulfill the pledge to establish an International Fund for Israeli-Palestinian Peace that will support the work of anti-war, anti-occupation, pro-peace movements in Israel and Palestine working towards a future based on freedom, self-determination and equal rights for both peoples.

• To firmly and publicly reject both anti-Palestinian racism and antisemitism.

Finally, we encourage the Labour Party to actively support and amplify the voices of pro-peace, anti-occupation movements—such as Standing Together—that are working on the ground to build a future of justice, freedom, and equality for both peoples.