PRO-PALESTINIAN BRITISH MP CRITICALLY WOUNDED IN ATTACK

Labour Member of Parliament Jo Cox(42), who has shown support for Palestine, has been shot and stabbed today in Great Britain in Birstall, near Leeds. She had just ended an event where the people of her constituency of Batley and Spen could meet here.

According to contradictory eye-witness claims, Cox was either directly targeted or intervened in a fight between two men. She was shot two or three times and stabbed at least once. Her attacker has been identified as Tommy Mair(52).

According to one eye-witness Mair would have shouted about the far-right British First -party during the attack. Mair was arrested by the police near the scene of the incident.

Cox has called for the recognition of Palestine, and has met with representatives of pro-Palestinian groups during her short time in parliament, where she was elected in the last elections last year. Previously as an Oxfam aid worker she had spent time in Palestine herself.

In her own words from 2015:

"The Gaza reconstruction mechanism is clearly not working, but it is also not a substitute for easing the closure. There is a need for urgent expansion of access to Israeli markets for Palestinian exports. What measures are the Government taking to that end? We also need to remove the last restrictions on the export of Gazan products to the West Bank.

I would like construction materials to be allowed into Gaza urgently. The facts are clear: only one home has been rebuilt in the past year, since the bombing, and the projections are that it will take hundreds of years to rebuild at the current rate. There is a need for materials to get into Gaza so that people can rebuild their lives. What is the Government’s view on that?

In addition, people need to get in and out of Gaza. In 2000 about 500,000 people were leaving and returning to Gaza, for work or to see family members. This year the number is 18,000, which is very low, and we need to raise it quickly. We also need the Israeli Government to continue to believe that there will be a cost to their allowing further settlement expansion in the West Bank. I would love to know what the Government are doing to get that message clearly heard by the Israeli Government. I would be interested also in the Government’s view of the Israeli Government’s silent policy of retrospectively legalising illegal outposts."

SOURCES:

2015 intake show support for Palestine and LFPME

http://www.lfpme.org/list/events_in_parliament1.php

British MP Jo Cox 'injured in shooting attack'

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/06/british-mp-jo-cox-injured-shooting-attack-160616131521198.html

GAZA: Questions to be answered

https://palestinebriefing.org/2015/10/07/853/

Jo Cox MP critically injured amid shooting reports

http://passionislam.com/articles.php?articles_id=366

National Lobby of Parliament for Palestine

http://www.palestinecampaign.org/lobby/

We must remember that Syria is not Iraq – and build a plan for action

http://labourlist.org/2015/10/we-must-remember-that-syria-is-not-iraq-and-build-a-plan-for-action/