Yousaf urges Starmer not to betray Palestinian people by denying statehood

The Labour Pary has pledged in its manifesto to recognise Palestine if it takes power

Scotland's former first minister Humza Yousaf as he announced his resignation in Edinburgh on April 29. AFP

Former Scottish first minister Humza Yousaf has told Labour Party leader Keir Starmer not to deny the Palestinian people their right to statehood if he wins next week's general election.

Failing to immediately recognise Palestine as a state would be a “betrayal”, Mr Yousaf said.

Speaking for the first time in Holyrood since stepping down from leadership, he urged Mr Starmer to act quickly if he wins the keys to Downing Street after the July 4 election.

Labour has already pledged in its manifesto to recognise Palestine if it takes power.

“In just over a week’s time, Keir Starmer will likely be the Prime Minister of the UK,” Mr Yousaf said.

“My appeal to him and the government he will lead is not to equivocate, do not deny the people of Palestine their inalienable right to statehood for a second longer.

“Instead, ensure that the UK joins our neighbours and allies in Ireland, Norway and Spain and immediately recognise the state of Palestine.

“Anything less will be a betrayal of the people of Palestine, who have been let down for far too long.”

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The Labour manifesto agrees with Mr Yousaf that Palestinian statehood is an “inalienable right”.

“It is not in the gift of any neighbour and is also essential to the long-term security of Israel," it says.

“We are committed to recognising a Palestinian state as a contribution to a renewed peace process which results in a two-state solution, with a safe and secure Israel alongside a viable and sovereign Palestinian state.”

Mr Yousaf's parents-in-law were trapped in Gaza during the bombardment after the October 7 attack.

“Over 37,000 Gazans, including over 14,000 children killed – not passing away, not dying – killed. Where is our humanity?" he asked.

“Over 86,000 injured, where is our humanity?

“The car six-year-old Hind Rajab was travelling in when she was killed is alleged to have been hit by 335 bullets – 335 bullets raining down on a car full of innocent men, women and children.

"Where is our humanity?”

Mr Yousaf said arms sales to Israel should be immediately halted, and he called for any international arrest warrants issued – including against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – to be executed by the UK if those in question ever landed on British soil.

Israel-Gaza war - in pictures

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  Palestinians move with their belongings on a road lined with destroyed buildings, in Khan Younis, in the south of the Gaza Strip, on April 22. AFP

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  An infant saved from the womb of her mother Sabreen Al Sheikh, who was killed in an Israeli strike along with her husband Shokri and her daughter Malak, lies in an incubator at Al Emirati hospital in Rafah, on April 21. Reuters

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  A man rides a bicycle, on April 2, past a damaged vehicle where employees from the World Central Kitchen non-profit, including foreigners, were killed in an Israeli air strike. Reuters

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  A woman at the damaged Al Shifa Hospital, on April 1, after Israeli forces withdrew from the medical complex following a two-week siege. Reuters

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  The view from a Jordanian flight dropping vital aid by parachute into Gaza, in March. Matthew Kynaston / The National

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  Nozha Awad flees Al Shifa hospital with her triplet children, after an Israeli raid siege began at the medical complex, in March. Reuters

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  Palestinians gather to receive aid outside a UNRWA warehouse, in March. Reuters

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  A family end their fast amid the rubble of their destroyed home, during Ramadan in Rafah, in March. Reuters

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  Wafaa Tabasi with her twin malnourished daughters, at Al Awda health centre in Rafah, in March. Reuters

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  Palestinians carry bags of flour taken from an aid lorry near an Israeli checkpoint in Gaza City, in February. Reuters

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  Fernando Simon Marman and Louis Hare, two Israeli hostages who, according to the Israeli military, were freed in a special forces operation in Rafah, reunite with loved ones at Sheba Medical Centre, in Ramat Gan, Israel, in February. Reuters

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  Palestinian Muhammad Al Durra with his children in the ruins of a house in Rafah where they sheltered on January 11, 2024. EPA

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  Family and friends at the funerals of journalists Hamza Al Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuraya on January 7, 2024 in Rafah, Gaza. Getty Images

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  Palestinians mourn relatives killed by Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip outside a mortuary in Khan Younis January 4, 2024. AP Photo

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  Displaced Palestinians queue to bake bread at a camp in the Muwasi area of Rafah, Gaza Strip, on December 23, 2023. AP Photo

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  Palestinians queue for food in Rafah, the Gaza Strip, on December 20, 2023. AP Photo

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  The ruins of Rafah on December 14, 2023. AFP

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  Palestinians wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip arrive at a hospital in Khan Younis on December 8, 2023. AP Photo

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  Palestinians flee Israeli bombing along the Salaheddine Road in the Zeitoun district of Gaza city on November 28, 2023. AFP

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  A Red Cross vehicle takes Israeli hostages from the Gaza Strip into Egypt in Rafah on November 25, 2023. AP

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  The ruins of buildings in Gaza city on November 24, 2023, as a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas took effect. AP Photo

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  A woman and her cat return home to eastern Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip during the first hours of a four-day truce between Israel and Hamas forces on November 24, 2023. AFP

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  Mourning the dead of Israeli bombardment outside the mortuary at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis on November 14, 2023. AFP

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  Civilians and rescuers look for survivors in the rubble of a building after Israeli bombing of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on November 12, 2023. AFP

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  November 7, 2023, a month to the day after Hamas attacked Israel, a victim of an Israeli bombardment in Rafah is moved from the rubble. AFP

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  Searching the rubble after Israeli air strikes on the town of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on October 26, 2023. AP Photo

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  Mourning the Kotz family at their funeral in Gan Yavne, Israel, on October 17, 2023. AP Photo

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  An Israeli firefighter composes himself after he and his colleagues extinguished cars set on fire by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip in Ashkelon, Israel, on October 9, 2023. AP Photo

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  Palestinians with the wreckage of an Israeli tank at the Gaza Strip fence east of the city of Khan Younis on October 7, 2023, the day Hamas forces swept unopposed into Israel. AP Photo

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  Israeli police officers evacuate a woman and a child from a site hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in Ashkelon, southern Israel, on October 7, 2023. AP Photo

Scottish Labour MSP Pauline McNeill was firm in her support for Mr Yousaf’s push.

“I agree with Humza Yousaf – the time to recognise Palestine is now,” Ms McNeill said.

“It’s time to correct the historical injustices.

“While the focus is rightly on the massacre and decimation in Gaza right now, it is the failure to hold Israel to account for the violation of international law over 76 years and the pretence that there was ever any serious attempt to reach a political solution that must be understood.

“One day, Palestine will be free and I think this parliament can say when the time is right, we stood up for Palestinians and for the creation of an independent Palestinian state and for peace for all of those who live in the region."

Former Scottish Conservatives leader Jackson Carlaw, whose Eastwood constituency contains Scotland’s largest Jewish community, did not agree with Mr Yousaf’s view on weapons sales to Israel.

But Mr Carlaw said the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians in Gaza was “unacceptable”.

“In spirit, at least, I think there is a will across this parliament, irrespective of the side of the debate we come from, to accept that what is now going on is unacceptable and progress must be made, and that progress must end with the recognition of a Palestinian state in a secure two-state environment within the Middle East,” he said.