No motion to debate, but HBC finally takes action on Gaza

A letter calling on the prime minister to take “decisive action” to support the people of Gaza has been prepared by Hastings Borough Council as an alternative to including a motion in similar vein on the agenda of Wednesday’s Full Council meeting. Meanwhile a protest was held outside the council offices in the belief that Gaza would be ignored during the evening’s proceedings. Nick Terdre reports.

The letter to prime minister Sir Keir Starmer was decided as an alternative to including the motion on the agenda, mayor Judy Rogers explained at the Full Council meeting on 20 November in answer to a question from Cllr Mike Turner. The proposal had been accepted by Cllr Younis Smith who had put forward the motion, she said.

The intention is that the letter will be signed by the group leaders of the four parties represented on Hastings Borough Council. Cllr Hilton has agreed to sign for the Greens and Cllr Margie O’Callaghan for Labour.

Cllr Mike Edwards, the new leader of the Conservative group following Cllr Andy Patmore’s decision to step down, told HOT that in view of the International Criminal Court’s naming of Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu as a potential was criminal, it was unlikely that he would sign the letter without amendments which were unlikely to be conceded. HOT has yet to receive a response from Cllr Paul Barnett of the Hastings Independents.

MP Helena Dollimore will also be asked to sign it.

The letter calls on the prime minister to take decisive action, in particular by advocating a multilateral ceasefire, to prioritise humanitarian assistance while ceasing arms exports to any parties involved in the conflict, and to utilise all diplomatic and legal measures to ensure accountability for violations of international law.

Labour stand welcomed

The Hastings & District Palestine Solidarity Campaign (HDPSC) welcomed the stand by the local Labour group to stop arming Israel. HDPSC had previously declared themselves “disgusted that once again Hastings Borough Council officers [had] taken it upon themselves to prevent discussion at the Hastings Council meeting of the ongoing savagery in Gaza”.

However, the decision to opt for a letter instead of including the motion on the night’s agenda came from the Agenda Planning Committee, which consists of the council leader, the mayor and the chief executive, or, as the latter post is currently vacant, their deputy.

In HDPSC’s later statement, secretary Laurie Holden said: “We have been urging our political leaders to give voice to the strong feelings in our town ever since Israel began its genocidal campaign in Gaza over 13 months ago, so we wholeheartedly welcome this letter . . .

“Though it is no substitute for the democratic process of discussing and voting on a motion to establish an official council position, it does mean that we heard the Labour group in Hastings finally urging an end to arms sales to Israel and we hope that we will now see our local Labour MP Helena Dollimore do the same and use her influence in government to push for a full UK arms embargo on Israel.”

After previous attempts to put a motion expressing solidarity with the people of Gaza were refused on the grounds that councillors could only discuss issues of direct relevance to Hastings, Full Council agreed in September that the constitution should be changed to remove this barrier.

Constitution changed

Article 14.1 of the constitution has accordingly been amended to include this wording: “. . . The decision whether to allow a motion as relevant will be made in discussion with the Chief Executive, Mayor and the Leader of the Council. In principle motions may be brought on any matter that councillors see fit, within the above criteria, so long as the content of the motion is not discriminatory in nature and does not contain any speech that would be considered to be hate speech.”

However it also gives the monitoring officer the right of veto without any conditions attached.

In protest against the exclusion of Cllr Smith’s motion from the agenda, HDPSC and Hastings Jews for Justice (HJJ) held a protest outside the council offices ahead of the meeting. A gathering of some 30 people heard a statement read out on behalf of HJJ which said in part: “We . . . are astonished and angry that the Council has, yet again, been prevented from discussing what has been happening in Gaza.

“Standing for justice, peace and dignity for Palestinians is a matter of huge importance to people in this town as we can see by the positive responses to actions taken in their support, the amount of money that has been raised and that this town will reflect the 80% of people who want a ceasefire now and majority who want an end to arms sales to Israel.

“We note that the Council has, for example, previously flown a Ukrainian flag in solidarity with the people suffering from the war there and yet not a word has been expressed in support of the Palestinian people nor any action taken to make sure that as Hastings council tax payers we are not colluding with war crimes.  Why the double standard?”

Links with Palestine

The two groups point out various links between Hastings and the Palestinian people, for example with the fishing community of Al-Mawasi in Gaza, for whom more than £22,000 has been raised in the town.

There are also links to the detriment of the Palestinians in the local suppliers of arms and other equipment to Israel. “Our local councils must commit to divest from Israeli companies and end procurement contracts with those companies enabling and complicit in the illegal occupation and genocide in Palestine,” says the HDPSC.

Whether, following the change in constitution, motions pertaining to events and matters outside Hastings will be accepted by the Agenda Planning Committee still remains to be tested.

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