Liberal Democrats Conference 2024
From the 14th-15th September 2024, the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) attended the Liberal Democrats Party Conference in Brighton, calling for the promotion and protection of Palestinian rights.
At the Party Conference, ICJP co-hosted the Conference’s Annual Palestine Reception with Liberal Democrats Friends of Palestine (LDFP) in the Ambassador Suit of the Brighton Metropole. The event took place from 5.30pm till 7.30pm on Sunday 15th September. The event included refreshments and finger food , and provided an opportunity to meet with likeminded individuals who are interested in defending and upholding the Palestinian people’s human rights.
Speakers at the event included Tayab Ali, Director of ICJP, Husam Zomlot, Palestinian Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Anne-Marie Simpson, Chair of Liberal Democrat Friends of Palestine and Ehab Omar, Co-Founder of British Palestinian Families. Deputy Leader of the Party Daisy Cooper also attended the event and spoke at the beginning. It was well attended by MPs, peers, staffers and other party members.
Earlier in the day, LDFP also hosted fringe event in the Charlotte Room at the Grand Hotel. The fringe event was titled: “Israel-Palestine, past, present & future – why international law and human rights matter” and took place from 11.30am-12.30pm on 15th September 2024. The fringe event included a panel discussion featuring Tayab Ali, Director of the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians and Head of International Law at Bindmans LLP, Chris Doyle, Director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding (CAABU) and Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian Ambassador to the United Kingdom.
The panellists spoke to a packed-out room, featuring MPs and Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) leaders, to set out what we need to see from parties such as the Liberal Democrats to challenge the government on the question of protecting Palestinian rights and bringing an end to Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
ICJP’s Director Tayab Ali also spoke to ‘Rights, Liberties, Justice’, which is the special interest Liberal Democrats lawyers association. He spoke on the violations of international law taking place in Gaza and the need for a permanent ceasefire. His full speech can be watched below:
Finally, the Conference saw the passing of a motion related to Israel and Palestine. The motion called for “immediately suspending arms exports to Israel, in accordance with similar decisions taken by previous UK governments of all political parties”, “immediately recognising the state of Palestine” and “respecting in full the ICJ advisory opinion that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories is illegal and upholding its findings.”
Speaking from the Conference, ICJP’s Senior Public Affairs Officer Jonathan Purcell reacted to the motion passing, telling Middle East Eye that the motion was a “really good start”, and called on aspects of it to be “reflected in government policy”. However, he added: “What’s really noticeable is what’s left unsaid rather than what’s included. Systematic torture of Palestinian detainees was not addressed and, unlike the Greens, the party fell short of calling a spade a spade and explicitly recognising Israel’s assault on Gaza as a genocide.”
