The last nine months have been the most challenging of my working life. I will never forget the morning of 7 October, waking up to those horrific reports of the most heinous violence. I can only imagine the horror still facing those waiting for news of their missing family members. There is no justification.
As the UK’s only British-Palestinian MP, the personal and the professional have collided like never before. My mother’s family are proud Jerusalemites. My great-grandfather chronicled life in a bustling and multicultural city in the early 1900s, but everything changed in 1948. That was the year my family were forced on to a new path, like so many in the Nakba, as dispossessed refugees.
The following decades were ones of displacement and uncertainty, but also of resilience and grit. Starting again with almost no possessions, our family scattered in different parts of the world.
All they – all we – have ever wanted was the right to live in an independent and free Palestine.
There is no question that we need an immediate bilateral ceasefire to end the senseless killing, to get the hostages safely home, and to get that desperately needed humanitarian aid into Gaza. I welcomed the news in June that the UN Security Council had backed a call for a ceasefire. But how many lives have needlessly been lost so far?
A ceasefire cannot be a temporary pause only for violence to resume later. We have to forge a new path on the long road towards a sustainable peace. That means a two-state solution, based on 1967 borders, with Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in dignity and security.
One hundred and forty-five countries have already taken the step to recognise Palestine. If the UK were to join them, it would send a powerful message to Benjamin Netanyahu and the far-right, extremist members of his coalition government that we believe in international law, just as many in Israeli civil society have advocated for. And it would send an equally powerful message to Palestinians that we are prepared to honour our historical obligations to the region. The lack of any hope has fed Palestinian political extremists too – especially Hamas. It’s time we put action before rhetoric and show Palestinians we mean it this time.
It is the role of the international community to come together and hold the hands of both peoples while they work towards a sustainable future. There will be challenges, but we must keep our eye on the political horizon. Yes, it will be difficult. Everyone knows that. But just because it will be difficult does not mean we should not try.
Layla Moran is the Liberal Democrat MP for Oxford West and Abingdon
This article is part of the series Losing Gaza
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