I have written again today to the Foreign Secretary about the escalating violence and appalling loss of life in Gaza and Israel – following two approaches I made to him last week on evictions, attacks on protesters and the conflict with Gaza. 

In the wake of the forced eviction of Palestinian families in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in East Jerusalem (which I have previously raised several times and co-ordinated a letter from all Sheffield Labour MPs), and the violence perpetrated by Israeli forces against protestors, last Tuesday I urged the Foreign Secretary to press the Israeli Government to end the expulsion of Palestinians from their family homes and condemn the attack on protesters at the Al Aqsa mosque. I also joined with Sheffield’s other Labour MPs calling on Government action to press the Israeli Government to halt illegal settlements in a further letter last week (see here). 

As the violence has escalated over subsequent days, and hundreds of constituents have contacted me, I have written again (see below) to press the Government to do all it can to end this conflict through an immediate ceasefire, to halt the sale of offensive weapons to Israel and work with the international community to end the supply of rockets to Hamas, to end UK trade with illegal settlements, and to increase efforts to resolve the underlying causes of the conflict through a lasting peace based on the long-sought ‘two-state solution’.