London: President Tehreek-e-Kashmir UK Fahim Kayani commended the leadership shown by Birmingham Labour Councillors who had expressed solidarity with the people of Palestine. A letter coordinated by Cabinet Member Waseem Zaffar and Mariam Khan, signed by 28 councillors including the council leader to the Foreign Secretary asked the government to step in and insist Israel stops this violence.
Birmingham City Council is the largest local authority in Europe serving over 1 million citizens. Mr Kayani urged pro-Palestinian councillors in various British councils to seek the support of all parties and to write a letter to the foreign secretary calling for British intervention to end Israeli atrocities against Palestinians.
The Following letter was sent to the the Foreign Secretary ”
We, Labour Councillors in Birmingham write to you in relation to the worrying and deeply challenging current circumstances in East Jerusalem.
We are alarmed, distressed and shocked at the images of the storming of Al Aqsa Mosque and the use of force & violence which is seen as an attack on the Mosque and worshippers by the Israeli Armed Police.
Religious institutions should be safe havens for all and these particular attacks in the Holy Al Aqsa Mosque have sent shock waves to all sections of society across our city of Birmingham and beyond. Brummies of all faith and none find these images and videos deeply distressing.
These attacks taking place whilst Muslims are observing the holy month of Ramadan must be strongly condemned. The storming of Al Aqsa Mosque whilst 90,000 worshippers were in attendance on the holiest night of Ramadan has upset hundreds of thousands across our country.
Furthermore, we support the statement made by the United Nations who ‘call on Israel to immediately halt all evictions in occupied Palestine including in Sheikh Jarrah and to cease any activity that would further contribute to a coercive environment’.
The response to Palestinians protesting against the armed forces is hugely disproportionate and has led to many civilians being injured.
This breach of international law and the continuation of human rights violations must be condemned by all international governments including the UK Government.
We are concerned that the scenes of recent incidents surrounding Sheikh Jarrah & Al Aqsa Mosque will pose grave risks on destabilising security in the region but potentially have an impact wider afield.
We need an urgent intervention from our Government demanding the human rights and civil liberties of Palestinians, for them to live peacefully & to call on Israel to end the illegal evictions, which have escalated the situation.
We look forward to your response outlining the role our government will play to secure this in the short term as well identifying how we can secure long-standing peace through a two state solution where people of all faith and none can live peacefully side by side.”
