 Yes, 63, no 46, there are no abstention, the motion is therefore agreed to. That concludes decision time. We now move to members' business. Members should leave the chamber, should do so quickly and quietly. The final item of business today is a member's business debate on motion number 10675 in the name of Drew Smith on Gaza. We will be concluded without any questions being put. I invite those members who wish to speak in the debate to please press the request to speak buttons now, or as soon as possible, and Mr Smith if you are ready would you open the debate please, seven minutes or thereby. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer, and I'm grateful to all of those members who have signed my motion and I hope that the range of views that no doubt exists across the chamber will have the opportunity of hearing this evening. In drafting a motion that I hope as many members as possible could support and which would therefore stand a chance of reaching the floor, I tried to provide a form of words which would maximise the broadest possible support and I hope that this debate will play a small part in a much needed effort to assure the victims of this conflict of the greatest possible international coalition for peace and justice in the Middle East. I wish to draw attention to my membership of the cross-party group on Palestine, which has previously been an officer. I thank the current officer, Sandra White, Claudia Beamish and Jim Hume, for supporting this motion and looking forward to their contributions to the debate. I also defer members to my entry on the register of members' interests as a former member of the Scottish DEC General Council as I will make reference to the delegation to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories that I made while a member. In Scotland, just as elsewhere in the world, there are a range of views on the solutions to the problems of the Middle East and specifically those of Israel Palestine. Parliament should reflect those if we wish our voices to be representative of the country and of note to those elsewhere. There are few neutral voices, however the scale of the current and most recent violence to which we are all bearing witness and indeed the length of time that this conflict has gone on has meant that there is a breadth to the voices that say that the current actions of the Israeli Government have been disproportionate. There are instances of action that require international investigation and indeed an international response that goes beyond simply wishing for talks or for different partners in the cause of peace. I am a supporter of a Palestinian state. I believe that a viable state for the Palestinians is their right and that it is the duty of progressive voices around the world to advocate for it with resolution, with realism about the barriers to it and with firmness against those who frustrate the two-state solution on either side, whether in principle or by delay. I believe that the current violence and the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza is winning new supporters for the cause of justice and peace, not terrorism and not military action. The motion in which we are debating condemns the scale of the violence on both sides. I condemn utterly and without caveat the indiscriminate firing of rockets into Israel from Gaza. I condemn tunnelling into Israeli territory from Gaza and I believe that the fear and danger that they represent serves no purpose other than the prolonging of this conflict, which reduces the likelihood that Israelis will question the actions of their Government far less become advocates for engagement with their Palestinian neighbours. Correspondingly, the scale of the horror in Gaza does nothing to bolster the voices of those who recognise that a viable Palestinian state can only be achieved alongside a secure Israel and that it will be created through negotiation of land, not violence against civilians. Peace for one society and normality for individuals and families will not be a lasting if it is achieved only for one group. That is not a justification for violence, it is simply recognition that the underlying issues of this conflict continue. I visited northern Israel on the aftermath of Operation Castled and, like many other international visitors, I have been shown the rockets that come over the border from Gaza. I have spoken to Israelis about their fears of attack and I have no doubt that those fears are genuine. I have also spoken to Palestinians and international observers who have told me of the harsh and brutal reality of life under blockade in Gaza. The images that we now see on our television screens in which people are taking to our streets to protest, they offend the world. Schools and hospitals in which the innocent can only hope that our places of safety have become a battlefield that is raging on a strip of land that is one of the most densely populated places on earth. Civilians and children have been killed and injured in their thousands. To those who say that we need to step back from condemnation of the disproportion of this violence because it needs to be understood against the wider politics of the region of the dispute or the history of the peace process, imagine being born into the world on the Gaza strip. Imagine the hopelessness of parents as they look at their children and imagine the desperate future that stretches far beyond the tiny horizons that surround them. Others will no doubt in this debate use their time to talk about their reactions to what we are watching. However, although the agony is more profound perhaps now than it has ever been before, the truth is that much of what we will hear in this debate could have been said in any of the three years since I was elected to this Parliament. It was said during the more than 10 years that I have been actively involved in various campaigns, and it has been continuously said in the 30 years of my life and for long before. Others will, I hope, touch on the injustices that continue on the West Bank, where Hamas is not in control, and others will no doubt mention many of the advocates for the Palestinians who have put the case for change in the Middle East better than I ever can, including the late Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Tutu or former President Carter. Yet the truth is that, while the world desperately desires a lasting ceasefire to the current violence, the hope, the necessity of a two-state solution, is fast disappearing before our very eyes. The situation is desperate, but the world simply cannot allow hope to die with the children of Gaza. Time does not allow me to say all that I would wish to say in this debate, Presiding Officer, but I would want simply to end this opening contribution as the motion does by urging the Scottish Government to continue their efforts to do all that it can for good community relations here in our country. Members of our minority communities feel the pain of this conflict keenly, and they deserve our solidarity just as the innocent civilian victims in the Middle East deserve our resolve in speaking out. When I have asked ordinary Palestinians what it is that Scots can do, what any of us can do as witnesses, I have been told, do not forget us, do not forget that we exist. When those who believe in a two-state solution speak out, let it not be described as support for terrorism, which is condemned by our citizens and by Rose around the world who believe that there is no violent solution to the political problem that exists in the occupied territories. When we tell our children what the UN flag represents, let them be proud of it, not compromised by it. I hope that the message that goes out from the Scottish Parliament tonight and from this debate is one of humanity, Presiding Officer. We see what exists and we recognise that it is unjust. The leaders of the world will continue reflecting on the steps that can be taken internationally, but the citizens of the world are making clear that in our individual actions we will protest bombardment and terrorism until lasting peace prevails and demands for justice are met. Thank you very much. Before I call Patricia Ferguson to be followed by Sandra White, I say that we are very tight for time this evening and we will need to extend the debate in due course. I am asking for three minute speeches, please, up to three minutes, and if I might ask Patricia Ferguson firstly, please. I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on the humanitarian disaster that is the unfolding tragedy in Gaza. I am sure that members across the chamber will join me in thanking our colleague Drew Smith for securing this chance for Parliament to debate this most serious, deadly conflict. According to Amnesty International, since the start of the Israeli military offensive on 8 July, 1948 Palestinians have been killed as a direct result of that offensive. The majority civilians over 85 per cent, including 456 children. Three civilians have been killed by rockets or mortars fired from Gaza, and 64 Israeli soldiers have been killed. Almost 12,000 homes in Gaza have been reduced to rubble. Those are the stark statistics of the bloody and unequal conflict being played out in Gaza, so graphically captured on our television screens. Amongst the destruction reigned down in the defence of civilian population of Gaza, it is the fate of the children that is most heart trending. I cite the case of one of the hundreds of innocents affected, 10-year-old Mohammed Badran. Mohammed was blinded in an Israeli air strike, but at the hospital he seemed to be unaware that his entire family had been killed when a missile destroyed their home at the Nizarat refugee camp. Unable to understand the nature of his injury, he repeatedly asked staff why they had switched the lights off. Just one little boy's awful situation left blind and orphaned by an indiscriminate attack of the Israeli air force. One terrible consequence of a political decision by the present Government in Tel Aviv to wage war not against an opposing army but against a defenceless rather civilian population. Not an act of war, Presiding Officer, but a war crime. For the avoidance of doubt, let me be crystal clear. I along with colleagues I'm sure across the chamber hold all human life dear. We mourn for the dead, both Palestinian and Israeli. When we criticise the actions of Israel in Gaza, it is not a condemnation of Jews or Judaism, but a condemnation of the present political establishment in Israel. Of course, the firing of rockets by Hamas must end, but Israel's response goes far beyond defending their borders and their population. The life of a Palestinian child is not worth less than the life of an Israeli child. The situation is primarily the result of the political actions of the Israeli Government. We must do all we can to bring pressure to bear on that Government to change a course of action that has such catastrophic consequences for the civilian population of Gaza. There needs to be a negotiated ceasefire, which has more permanence than the series of recent 72-hour ceasefires, and the immediate humanitarian effort in Gaza needs to have a real chance to deliver the much-needed emergency supplies of food, water and hygiene kits to those in such desperate need. Of course, Presiding Officer, we mustn't forget the aid agencies who risk life in loom to get that supply to the people who need it. Pressure must be brought on the Israeli Government to change its long-term strategies regarding Gaza and the Palestinian people. The UK Government must not be complicit in breaches of the fourth Geneva Convention. We must agree with the STUC's call for immediate and comprehensive peace talks and a settlement based on international law, including an end to the blockade, illegal settlements and the dismantling of the separation wall. Presiding Officer, our own recent history tells us that you don't make peace talking to your friends. It's time for all of those involved in this tragedy to engage in proper dialogue and bring to an end this on-going tragedy. I now call on Sandra White to be followed by Claudia Beamish. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. I declare an interest. As a member of the cross-party group on Palestine, I have visited Gaza and the West Bank also. I thank Drew Smith for securing this debate and contributing to the millions of people throughout the world who marched throughout the world—many of them Jewish, by the way, in support of the people of Gaza and against the killing of innocent civilians by Israel. Presiding Officer, as has already been said by Patricia Ferguson, the death toll of Palestinians killed in Operation Protective Edge is 1,948 and rising daily. Most of them are civilians. We are now facing a huge humanitarian crisis, with areas that are completely destroyed and homes uninhabitable. In fact, the UN has said that the level of destruction is unprecedented—anything that they have ever seen before. Schools, hospitals, UN shelters—all destroyed. No power, no water, raw sewage flowing in the streets and all because of the indiscriminate attack by the Israelis. The suffering of the Palestinian people must stop. The people of Gaza have been left with nothing. One quote that I saw was from a gentleman who was left with just the clothes he stood on, but what he said was, thanks to Allah, I have my six children. All he had was his six children, no wife, and the clothes that he stood up in. If nothing left, apart from their pride and their great resilience—I really admire them for that resilience—what admiration isn't enough, action is needed. I know that the disaster emergency committee has launched an appeal and a fund that is to be most welcomed. I thank the Scottish Government for the actions on medical aid and calls for an arms embargo on Israel. That is the action that I want to see. However, I would like to raise something else with the minister. I would like to ask the minister if there is anything more that we can do in the Scottish Government. I am thinking of the procurement reform bill, which was recently passed by the Scottish Parliament, and its statutory guidance is being looked at. I ask the minister if, during the procurement process, could the possible look at products, services or businesses from land that is internationally recognised as illegally occupied, could that be considered in the procurement bill, as resolution 446 of the UN Security Council determines? Presiding Officer, much has been said and will be said about the situation in Gaza. Drew Smith is absolutely right. This is the third horrific attack on the Gazans in the Palestinian people. A prison camp—Gaza is a prison camp. The people of Gaza deserve our support, and the people of Palestine deserve their state. I thank Drew Smith for getting this debate so quickly, and I strongly support the motion that I discussed with Drew before its drafting. I declare an interest as a cocavena of the cross-party group for Palestine, where we all work together in any small way that we can. I also apologise to the chamber if I have to leave before the end of this debate, as I am hosting an event in the garden lobby. The immediate response of the appeals and trade union and UK-wide and other appeals across the world, along with demonstrations across Scotland and Britain and the flying of flags over many council buildings and the calls for arms embargoes on Israel, which I support, show the grave concern and solidarity of so many of our people here with the people of Palestine. With the opportunity of the minister being here to answer the debate, I want to highlight the immediate need for medical aid and recognise the initial commitment of the Scottish Government to this and urge the Scottish Government to do more. Specifically, can the minister clarify how well is this NHS initiative to be resourced and does the funding include the cost of transfer of patients? Will acutely ill children requiring life support be transferred out or will only stable elective patients? As part of the Council for European Palestinian Relations, John Finnie and I went on a parliamentary delegation after operation pillar of defence, as it was called in Israel. On arrival, joining a vigil with a family whose home had been destroyed was only the start of witnessing the disproportionate results of attacks by the Israeli military. While there we visited a UN school where children were grateful for our Scottish Parliament pencils, which they did not have when we gave them to a class, they lived most of them on UN handouts of food and clean water too. The children whose future is now on hold and has been for generations, it is those who grow up under this state of siege and are exposed to the recent bombardment whom we must be saddened for most. Of course, as I have already said, this is not the first generation, this has been going on for 60 years. I want to highlight the issue of long-term mental health challenges in the Gaza Strip, and some of the psychological problems faced by the besieged population. Just last week, research into trauma post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety and coping strategies among Palestinian adolescents was written about in the Arab Journal of Psychiatry. Facing with others in Gaza, the shocking imprisonment that we have heard of from other members in the most densely populated place in the world, the deplorable cycle of violence and coping against the odds from day to day in between assaults, is it any wonder that many people and young people particularly become radicalised? The lifting of the blockade must be an essential part in negotiations. Pat Yann, member now of the Northern Ireland Assembly, who was a political prisoner and hunger striker in Northern Ireland and was the leader of our delegation to Gaza, stressed then in 2012 to the world's press, who were assembled to listen to us in Gaza, that Hamas must be part of the negotiations going forward. I'm sure he is right. I hope he can send a collective message today from this chamber, only a political solution which involves a Palestinian state while ensuring Israel's own citizen security can be a solution, which will hold firm and bring a chance of life and hope to the children and young people of Gaza and those of the Palestinian exiles around the world. I congratulate Drew Smith on securing this debate and commend him for the balanced and fair tone both of his motion and of his opening contribution. I think that our overriding concern must be for the innocent civilians caught up in this strife. As we've heard in the debate, the civilian suffering, especially that of the children involved, is appalling and tragic. The Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has rightly called the current situation in Gaza and Israel a humanitarian catastrophe. Given the rapidly deteriorating situation, the UK international development secretary has made around £12 million available in emergency support, including healthcare, clean water, blankets and cooking equipment, to help the people affected by the violence in Gaza. DFID is also bringing forward £3 million in funding to help the international committee of the Red Cross to respond to the worsening situation. That is in the context of wider support from DFID, which, over the past four years, has provided a total of £349 million to support the Palestinian development of which £30 million a year goes directly to help the people of Gaza and to help to develop Palestinian institutions and the economy so that a future Palestinian state can be stable, prosperous and live side by side in peace and security with Israel. I think that in looking at the conflict, we need to remember that victims are not just in Gaza. There are victims in Gaza and in Israel, and Gaza and civilians are not the only casualties in the recent spate of rocket attacks. The Israelis are also living with the consequences of the ongoing conflict, and the Israeli Defence Forces estimate that 5 million Israeli civilians live within range of rockets fired from Gaza. I think that the danger in playing the blame game is that it suggests that the fault is all on one side, and I do not believe that that is the case. I do agree that Israel's response has been disproportionate, but let's not be in any doubt, Deputy Presiding Officer. Hamas is a terrorist organisation, one vilified by most of the Arab world. While the retaliatory action taken by Israel has had devastating effects on innocent civilians, we cannot ignore the fact that Hamas has been using its own people as human shields and sacrifices to justify firing rockets at Israeli civilians and to increase its own civilian casualties in order to turn Western opinion against Israel, and indeed to have broken two ceasefires to date. Hamas is putting gassans in harm's way by using UN skills and hospitals to store rockets and launch attacks. I think that all of us in this chamber want to see an end to the death of innocents, and we should rightly put pressure on the Israeli Government for their actions, but we should not be naive enough to simply place all the blame at the door of Israel when Hamas's aim is to destroy Israel and kill each and every Jew. Presiding Officer, our concern should be for the innocents who suffer on all sides, and we should devote all our efforts to assisting them by finding a peaceful, lasting settlement in this troubled part of the world. I condemn the firing of Hamas rockets into Israel, but I think that it is simply a fact to say that the greatest recruiting sergeant for Hamas is the scale of Israeli oppression and aggression. The least that can be said about that aggression is that it is disproportionate, where we consider nearly 2,000 Palestinian civilians and a single number of Israeli civilians. However, when I see and when we see the images of young children and families and people of all ages being mained who are totally innocent and when we see the kind of weapons that are being used such as flechette shells that splinter into 1,000 tiny lethal metal darts in the skin of children and others, then I, like others, am forced to use language such as obscene grotesque, indiscriminate and, in many cases, illegal. I think that some of the strongest condemnation of the massacre that we have seen has come from Jews themselves. I think of Gerald Kaufman's words in the House of Commons, when he said that his Jewish grandmother was not shot to provide cover for Israelis to murder grandmothers in Gaza and also the American Jew, Naomi Wolff, who said that she mourned and it is her word, she mourned the genocide in Gaza. What now? Of course we need a ceasefire, but not just a ceasefire, but a new deal for Gaza and a new deal for Palestine based on the two state solution for both Israel and Palestine. Have her right to a secure future. A starting point must be a commitment to lift the blockade on Gaza. Following this, there must be a firm promise to cease illegal settlements building that makes a mockery of the 1949 armistice lines. The motion points to the destruction of infrastructure over the course of the conflict. We must aid the rebuilding of that infrastructure and also, of course, the importation of vital humanitarian support, as Drew Smith points out in his motion. Another point, and I think that the Scottish Government has said that it will give assistance with regard to the health area, but I would ask the minister and his summing up to tell us where that commitment has got to, because I know concerns have expressed to me that it's taking too long to help those that we can help in terms of their health, so I hope that it may be possible for the Scottish Government to speed up the process and help as many of the severely injured as possible. Finally, however, I support a full arms embargo as a means of building pressure towards peace. I also support the use of the boycotting of goods as a means to exert economic pressure. That is necessary not only to show, in our practical way, our disgust at the conduct of the Israeli Defence Force and the Administration, but also to pressurise the Israeli Government to open channels of engagement with the Palestinians with a view to adjust to the state solution. I thank Drew Smith for securing the debate and also to thank the 17 members who signed my motion on the crisis calling for the use of divestment and sanctions to pressure Israel to bring its illegal occupation of both Gaza and the West Bank to an end. I should also declare an interest as a member of the cross-party group on Palestine. But another important step towards justice for Palestine is the international recognition of its existence as a sovereign nation. Two years ago, the United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to recognise Palestine as a non-member observer state. I was proud that the Scottish Government made clear at that time that had we had a vote, Scotland would have voted, like other countries, to recognise Palestine. Instead, Scots are represented, and I use that word reluctantly by a Westminster Government that put allegiance to the White House ahead of that. During this offensive, the Scottish Government has rightly announced that we are ready and willing to welcome refugees from Gaza and in line with our values and our international duty. But Scotland stands in the invidious position of having to beg permission to show human compassion. The Minister for External Affairs could only write to the Home Secretary, and my understanding is that after nearly a month that letter has gone unanswered. I am really proud that this debate has so many wishing to speak, and the compassion and commitment of members across the Parliament cannot be faulted. But I do highlight that the reality is that Scotland's 21st century internationalist values count for little as long as we are represented in the world. By a distant White-Hole Government, it was quite different values. Thank you. Thank you very much. I now call on Jim Hume to be followed by Christine Grahame. Thank you. I also congratulate Drew Smith on this motion. This Parliament has a history of actionary the situation in the Gaza Strip. Robbie Burns had it right when he wrote, Man's in humanity till man makes countless thousands more and I think we all mourn for those affected in the Middle East today, not just here but of course across the world. We're in the middle of commemorating the sedentinary of the war to end all wars, the First World War, how I wish that had been true, that it had ended all wars but sadly it has not. We have many conflicts now, airliners shut down in Europe, our own continent and on-going fighting there. Of course, the on-going humanitarian crisis in Iraq and again, trouble in Gaza and Palestine. As another of the co-conveners on the cross-party group on Palestine, I have visited Gaza, Palestine and Israel, have witnessed the difficulties in an area the small size of Gaza with over one and a half million inhabitants, the essentials of life, water, medicine, food, fuel and power, before this recent tragedy were at a critical level, they are now beyond critical. The Egyptian situation has seen the only way in and out of Gaza at the Rafaigate, now nearly impossible to get through. Fishing boats heavily restricted through the distance they can fish from the Gaza coast and their export market non-existent. What I was struck with among many things was the resilience of the Palestinians, the way they looked forward to a better time. I say that they have suffered too much and for too long. Their hope is fading and their right to live peacefully as a civilised nation, as fellow humans, is here and now. There have been countless UN resolutions supported by the UK Government, Repallistine and Gaza. It is time for a two-state solution as others have said and recommended by the UN. Thousands have died countless homeless in a land of no real opportunity due to the siege. The current situation is appalling. I hope for the ceasefire to hold and that holders of power and influence look to areas such as India, South Africa and even Ireland to see that the only way forward is a peaceful solution. Today, we had the great Mandela's granddaughter take time for reflection. Perhaps we should remember his peaceful actions and some of his words. To be free is not merely to cast off one's chains but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others. We need respect for the people of Palestine and Gaza to live their lives in a peaceful manner with pride and hope for the future. We need to lay down our arms and embrace humanity. Mandela also said, and I quote, that it always seems impossible until it's done. The Palestinians have been on their long walk to freedom. Let's end that walk and let's end the siege of Gaza. Thank you very much. I now call on Christine Grahame to be followed by Alex Rowley. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and I congratulate the member on securing this debate. I'll start by stating that I consider that Israel has been guilty by its bombing of civilians, hardly avoidable in this crowded area, but in particular of bombs landing on UN safehouses despite repeated information from the UN guilty of war crimes and a matter of international criminal court, which I raised last week at topical questions. To now, however, I want to focus on that other war, the war taking place in the media. There is no doubt that anyone with a mobile phone taking footage with correspondence on the ground giving 24-hour coverage, world opinion, can switch literally at the click of a switch. We are shocked and upset by the images of three wee boys killed in a beach as they run from gunfire of a weeping parent committing a young life to an early grave or of an old lady trapped in the ruins of her home. What is said by representatives of those who cause those civilian deaths and horrific images, and I'll focus in this debate on the language of Israeli high command, has to combat the mantra, a picture is worth a thousand words. So we have phrases like protective edge instead of invasion of another's territory. Call the defence system Iron Dome Machismo. When a soldier is captured invading another's territory call it kidnapping or abducted and at the same time let that story, let those words hide the truth that he was killed in combat. We've been here before with shock and awe and look where that took us and the mess and continuing mess in Iraq. None of this happens by accident. Spokesmen and women are media trained and trained by experts. Spin in itself is a spin in what we used to call propaganda but that's not such an acceptable term. So step forward Dr Frank Loos, expert republic pollster and political strategist and he's studied, commissioned by a group called Israeli project. Put short it's a do's and don'ts for Israeli spokesmen. Americans agree that Israel has a right to defensible borders but don't just say what those borders are and certainly not in terms of pre and post 1967. But much of his advice is about tone and presentation of the Israeli case. He says it's absolutely crucial to exude sympathy for the Palestinians, in particular use the sound by quote, I particularly want to reach out to Palestinian mothers who have lost their children. No parent should have to bury a child. A picture however is worth a thousand words spun or unspun. Today I have the images of blood spatter children and exhausted surgeons in a bombed hospital and another of a row of Israelis perched on a sofa with drinks in hand at a vantage point all the better to view the bombing of Gaza. You can't spin those. Thank you very much. Before we continue the debate I know that there are still a number of members wishing to speak in this debate and with this in mind and minded to accept a motion under rule 8.14.3 that the debate be extended by up to 30 minutes. Mr Smith, would you please move the motion? So moved. Thank you very much. The question is there for that under rule 8.14.3 the debate be extended by up to 30 minutes. Are we agreed? We are. Thank you. I now call Alex Rowley to be followed by Jim Eadie. I would also thank Drew Smith for securing this debate tonight and I would also acknowledge and thank the Scottish Government for the actions that they have taken today on this issue. In order to achieve a two-state solution there has to be a political will in Gaza and in Israel and I'm not sure that that political will exist at the present time and that's why I think it is important that this parliament and parliaments across Europe have these discussions, have these debates and look at how we can bring in Europe together, use Europe to be able to put the types of pressure on that need to be put on to bring about a long-term sustainable solution to what is an unacceptable situation that's been on going for some 40 odd years. I would want to condemn the rockets that come out of Gaza aimed at Israel. I would also want to condemn the bombs, the bullets and the missiles that are raining down on innocent men, women and children in Gaza and I think we need to speak out very loudly. The Save the Children sent us out a briefing and it's worth, I think, reiterating the point that they make. 456 Palestinian children have lost their lives in this current conflict. Over two-thirds are 12 years old or younger. Where else in the world would this be happening where you have a Government that is indiscriminately killing innocent children and it would be allowed to happen? That's why it's so important that this parliament speaks out because we've got to, regardless of the rights and the wrongs, the political conflict that's there, it could be never right, never right any place in the world for children to be killed in this way that we have been seeing on our television sets. So we have to send that message and send that message loudly and clearly and I hope that parliaments across Europe will look at how we can start to come together to actually do something to try and bring a stop to a situation that's unacceptable. We also need to look at removing any arms licences that are granted to British companies because we should be making clear not in our name, not a missile, not a bomb, not a bullet that's being produced in this country will be used in this type of conflict by the Israeli Government and we've got to take that action. That honest international point that last year the UK sold £6.3 million worth of the arms to Israel, not in our name. We've got to be calling unitedly from this parliament to stop that. Finally, we also need to look at the UN investigating whether war crimes have taken place in Gaza on either side and we've got to be calling for that investigation and if it is shown to be the case that war crimes have taken place then we need to take and support the UN to take the necessary action to bring those who have committed these war crimes to justice. It cannot be right in any country, any place in the world and if it was happening in any place in the world we would be speaking out and if we allow this to happen and allow this to continue then the world will be a much worse place so I hope that we do unite together, we do see the strengths that we can have through Europe and work together to bring an end to this. I now call on Jim Eadie to be followed by Neil Findlay. I too congratulate Drew Smith for securing this important debate which allows the Parliament of Scotland to debate the situation facing the people of Gaza and I thank all of my colleagues from across the chamber for their thoughtful contributions this evening. Presiding Officer, there is a growing mood of despair within the Muslim community in this country and throughout the Middle East at what is perceived to be the west's indifference towards the plight of the Palestinians. It was a Singapore academic Khashori Mabubani who put it bluntly when he stated, in the Western moral calculus, the loss of Muslim lives is unimportant. That perception should concern us, each and every one of us, as we look on in horror at the events in Gaza. That perception will have been reinforced in recent weeks as we have seen the death toll rise inexorably. Western Governments have united in condemnation of Israel's actions but the US and UK Governments are complicit in the conflict through their supply of arms to Israel and that is why we should all endorse the calls from the Scottish Government and the NGOs for an arms embargo and the immediate suspension of the sale of arms to Israel. The people of Gaza are facing, as we have heard this evening, a major humanitarian disaster and a critical public health crisis due to the destruction and contamination of Gaza's water supply. International aid agencies such as Mercy Corps, whose European headquarters are based in my constituency, are attempting to provide humanitarian assistance in an environment where the water infrastructure has been destroyed. The people of Gaza are prevented from cooking, flushing toilets or washing hands. With water running out, the threat of disease is a very real one but we do need to put those events into their proper historical context. As one of the foremost experts on the Israel-Palestine conflict, Avi Shlame has said in relation to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza post-1967, the aim was to establish greater Israel through permanent political, economic and military control over the Palestinian territories, and the result has been one of the most prolonged and brutal military occupations of modern times. I do not question Israel's right to live in peace and security with its neighbours and, like others, I condemn unequivocally the rocket attacks by Hamas fired from Gaza into Israel. However, what we have seen is a disproportionate use of force by Israel resulting in the loss of civilian lives, especially children, 400 or 556 of whom have died, as Patricia Ferguson and Alec Rowley reminded us. We have seen the likely breach of article 58 of the Geneva Convention, which states that parties to conflict should, and I quote, avoid locating military objectives within or near densely populated areas. We have also seen probable breaches in relation to article 12, the protection of medical units, article 15, the protection of civilian, medical and religious personnel, and article 54 on the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare. Article 54 states, and I quote, it is prohibited to attack, destroy or render useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, including drinking water, installations and supplies. A constituent of mine told me at the demonstration outside the Parliament last week that she longs for peace, but there can be no peace without justice. That is why it is so important that there is a United Nations independent investigation into possible war crimes on both sides of the conflict, breaches of the Geneva Convention and breaches of international law. We must have that investigation and we must have justice for the people of Gaza and Palestine. I thank Ruth Smith for securing the debate and putting record mass support for the actions of the Scottish Government today and my membership of the cross-party group. Like many, I have watched the horror of Gaza unfold on our TV screens. As the air strikes descended on a small stretch of land, not bigger than the distance between this chamber and my house in West Lowland. I found it almost impossible to comprehend the damage being caused in an area that hosts a population of almost a third of the size of Scotland. Justification for their actions, the Israelis say that they want to destroy supply tunnels, yet we see the bombing of schools, hospitals and people's homes and businesses. The world is told that Israel wants to defend itself against people they call terrorists, yet we read reports of Israeli aircraft bombing, water wells, sanitation systems and power plants. Those are acts of terrorism too. This is a humanitarian disaster unfolding in front of our eyes and yet the world appears unwilling to tackle the aggression being metied out by the Netanyahu regime. As Patricia Ferguson said, the life of a Palestinian child is worth no less than the life of an Israeli child and for each of us with children no less than the life of one of our children too. With a tentative ceasefire currently in operation as indirect talks continue, the international community must be allowed to offer immediate support to alleviate suffering. I condemn outright the actions of the Israeli Government and violence from all sides. I condemn the indiscriminate and deliberate bombing of civilians and acts that many believe constitute war crimes and breaches of UN resolutions, as Jim Eadie very eloquently explained. I condemn the failure to allow medical supplies, food aid and water through and I support calls for an arms embargo. You cannot bomb your way to a political solution and ultimately the underlying cause of the crisis is political failure. The failure over decades to address the occupation of the West Bank, to address the on-going settlement policy, to address the continued sanctions and to address the blockade of the territory. Only when the Palestinian people are able to live and work and be supported to end poverty that is forced upon them in what is described as the largest open-air prison in the world can they begin to rebuild their lives in peace with their neighbours. Political pressure must come now on a state that permanently flouts UN resolutions, ignores pleas from humanitarian organisations, commits war crimes and disregards the lives of millions held in a small part of captive in a small part of their homeland. There is growth and recognition that lasting peace cannot come from more violence and only through the creation of a viable Palestinian state in a secure Israel. I want to share the views of other members and they hope that current talks can lead to a sustained ceasefire and that that will restart the process of building lasting peace and I hope that the next time we come to debate Israel and Palestine in this chamber it is to welcome a fully recognised Palestinian state free from a block, economic blockade and illegal settlements. Thank you very much. I now call on Alison Johnstone to be followed by Cara Hilton. Thank you Presiding Officer. Greens across Europe and the world continue to call for a sustained and secure ceasefire in Gaza and for negotiations by Israel and Hamas with a renewed commitment to on-going peace. I welcome the Scottish Government support foreign arms embargo on Israel and the stronger line of support for the Palestinian people taken by Scottish ministers. I would ask the minister to continue to strive to ensure that the UK Government is fully aware of the urgent need for such an embargo and if a newspaper report at the weekend reporting the Israeli use of Scots-made laser guidance systems in this conflict. I believe that we can put pressure on the Israeli state through a targeted boycott and disinvestment campaign and we can join the efforts of the international community to pursue a lasting peace along with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the South African activist who fought to end apartheid. We can join a worldwide campaign calling on corporations profiting from Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories to pull out their funding. By putting economic pressure on the Israeli Government, Scotland and the UK could play a part in the international effort to control the situation. Speaking at Saturday's rally in Edinburgh, it was clear that the strength of this feeling amongst the general public on the issue and communities across Scotland is growing, but that is not surprising. 1.8 million people live in an area of 140 square miles big. It is one of the most densely populated parts of the globe and the humanitarian crisis is deepening. 200,000 people have been displaced and some 65,000 homes have been destroyed. Where will these people return? The average Palestinian is only 17 years old, so it is no surprise that the UNICEF has reported that 400,000 children need immediate psychological help to overcome the trauma that they have experienced during the Israeli onslaught. Per Neil Ironside, the head of the UNICEF office in Gaza, also warned that children are at risk of contracting communicable diseases due to the lack of power and sanitation in the blockaded Palestinian territory. Gazans have been left without clean water for weeks now. The Church of Scotland world mission report Invest in Peace says, as a form of collective punishment, Israel's illegal blockade of Gaza is a violation of international law and yet it continues, we must ensure that international law and international humanitarian law are applied. The blockade and entirely disproportionate military bombardment has led to the destruction that we see and can hardly contemplate, the destruction of industry, fishing rights are massively restricted, farming is dangerous and challenging, schools and hospitals, places that should have been sanctuaries have been hit and I too support calls for action with regards to procurement companies should not benefit through public contracts from the Israeli blockade of Gaza. I would ask to the minister concerns have been expressed by constituents regarding delays in evacuating. I would be grateful if the minister could advise what action is being taken to establish a recognised transfer and treatment protocol that will save as many lives as possible in closing. However, distant a prospect achieving peace and justice might be, we have to continue to work to achieve this goal, because a just peace in Israel in Palestine could be the catalyst for achieving wider peace in the region and indeed across the world. I now call on Cara Hilton to be followed by John Mason. Thank you, Presiding Officer, and thanks to Drew Smith for securing this timely debate. Can I start by declaring my interest as a member of the cross-party group in Palestine and also a member of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity campaign? Five months ago in this chamber we debated the thirsting for justice campaign concerning water shortages in Gaza, and I must speak then, I talked about how the Israeli Government has consumed a whole generation of children to a future that is bleak at the very best. Five months on, and for many of those children that bleak future is no future at all. Many families have been literally torn apart or wiped out entirely. Patricia Ferguson's example that she highlighted certainly brought tears to my eyes, because we have seen 456 children who have been killed, thousands more who have been injured, 400,000 that are facing psychological damage, children who thought they were safe when they sheltered in a UN school, whose lives were tragically cut short when they were killed in their sleep by Israeli missiles, 17 times the UN warned that this was a UN shelter, yet still the Israeli military carried on with a shameful act of terror. Despite the outcry, even from the USA, we have seen a further five UN shelters targeted by the Israeli military, from the children playing on the football on the beach, shot at by Israeli gunships, to the children playing on the swings at their play park, killed by Israeli gunfire, to the children who have seen everyone that they love wiped out. This is an assault in which the innocent children of Gaza are caught up in a nightmare that they simply can't escape. I condemn the violence on all sides, but this certainly isn't a conflict with any balance. This is about a brutal Israeli Government that is in breach of countless UN resolutions, that's illegally occupying Palestinian land, that's continuing to bulldoze Palestinian homes and that for seven years has blockaded the people of Gaza in on all sides, denying them access to clean water, to medical supplies, to human rights, denying children that are even to our childhoods. I was pleased to join 700 people in Cacoddy recently who marched in solidarity with families in Gaza, and I'm proud too that Fife Council this week is flying the Palestinian flag in solidarity with those families in Gaza who are under attack. Because enough is enough, this isn't a bit taken size, this is about humanity. As consumers too, we've got power, and when we do our supermarket shop, we should be using that power to boycott Israeli goods. In any case, why should we buy Israeli potatoes when we can buy perfectly good Scottish potatoes from down the road, from here in the UK? Just as consumer power played a huge role in ending their apartheid regime in South Africa, we too can bring about change in Palestine. It's also time for the UK Government to end its virtual silence and use its economic influence to tell Israel that enough is enough. As Alec Rowley highlighted, £6.3 million of arms were sold to Israel by the UK this year, and the revelation that military equipment made in Fife has possibly been used against children in Gaza was certainly a shock to me as a Fife MSP. No company in Fife, Scotland or elsewhere in the UK should be supplying the brutal Israeli Government with any arms or military equipment, so we need an arms embargo and we need an investigation into why our factories are supplying a country that shows absolutely no respect for international law, for human rights and for the rights of children. We also need a solution that ends not just the current violence but secures justice for the Palestinian people and then to Israel's illegal sage in Gaza and then to the illegal occupation of Palestinian land and for those who have committed shameful acts of terror such as the bombing of schools and hospitals to be held to account for the war crimes that they have committed. As Nelson Mandela said, we know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians and it's time for Scotland and the UK to use their influence to secure justice and freedom for the Palestinian people. Thank you very much. Now Colin John Mason to be followed by Sarah Boyack, three minutes if you can manage. Thank you, Presiding Officer, and I thank Drew Smith as well for bringing this subject to the chamber. Presiding Officer, I think that we need to think about what our aim is in this situation. Do we want to choose one side or the other and shout loudly for it? Or do we want to try and reduce the tension in the Middle East and try to be peacemakers building relationships with both sides? Because if we want to be peacemakers, sanctions or a boycott of one party will not move us in that direction nor will flying a flag from Glasgow city chambers. Now what is the situation between Israel and Palestine? Israel has some 8 million people, Palestine only 4 million, so Israel is much bigger. Israel spends 18 billion on its defences, Palestine clearly next to nothing. So on the surface of it Israel looks like the big strong country while Palestine or Gaza is the smaller weaker one and the casualties clearly are far greater on the Palestinian side, so on the surface we should all support Palestine. But is it as simple as that? On population Israel may have 8 million but is dwarfed by other larger players in the region, including Egypt at 82 million and Iran at 77 million. Again on defence spending Israel has 18 billion but Saudi Arabia has 59 billion. So it can also be seen that Israel is a pretty small country and it does feel threatened by its larger neighbours. On human rights we look at the international human rights rank indicator. It ranks Syria at 211th, Saudi Arabia at 205th, Iran at 166th, Palestine at 107th and Israel at 71st. 71st may not be great but it is better than a number of other countries. Are we looking at sanctions or boycotts of every state where human rights is worse than 71st in the world or is it just Israel that is the target of our criticism? Is there a danger that we change the balance in the region by stopping supplying Israel while still supplying other countries? I think we can and should be ready to challenge any country when it does wrong. Even in the Bible God is severely critical of his people the Jews when they go off track, so we should not blindly support any one country, even our own, but at the same time we should not blindly oppose any one country. All I am asking here is are we being consistent in the standards we are setting for Israel and for other countries? We have many claims and counterclaims in the situation. Hamas and others accuse Israel of indiscriminate bombing. Israel accuses Hamas of deliberately firing rockets from civilian sites and deliberately encouraging civilians to gather round targets. Many want to see the blockade lifted and more cement allowed in. Israel says that cement is used for the Hamas war effort. I do not think that any of us here today have the means or ability to weigh up all of these claims and counterclaims right now, but I think that what we can do is send out a strong message supporting a ceasefire, doing all we can to build up relationships with all parties and do our utmost to encourage serious peace talks. I want to join colleagues in thanking Drew Smith for enabling us to have this debate tonight. In a sense, I just want to fall on from the points made by John Mason. I do not think that colleagues in the chamber are setting out either to be for or against Israel or for or against Palestine. Quite a few members have said that people support the two-state solution. That means that Palestine and Israel are sitting side by side as neighbours, trading and respecting each other's borders. The challenge is that we are as far away from that solution as we have ever been. I visited Gaza 30 years ago on a United Nations youth visit, and some of the young people I met will now be mothers and fathers of the children that Claudia Beamish talked about, who are experiencing extreme psychological damage. The contrast between those unraw schools that were dynamic, happy places, places of learning and the schools that you see on your television screens could not be more complete. It says everything when experienced journalists, experienced United Nations officials find it difficult to compose themselves on the television. What we are seeing is unimaginable to us for one and a half million people not to have access regularly to drinking water, for there to be no power supplies, for there to be bombing that is almost daily. It is just impossible for us to imagine the unemployment statistics for Gaza. For young people it is 58 per cent. 58 per cent of young people are unemployed, 52 per cent of women are unemployed and 37 per cent of men. Those families have absolutely no scope for income. When thinking about what we do, we have to see humanitarian support. The work of the aid agencies is absolutely heroic. When you see what they are all dealing with, it is heroic. We need to do as much as we can as individuals, as political representatives and as members of our communities to support that fantastic and vital humanitarian work, but we need to demand a political solution. The two-state solution requires the two sides to sit and talk to each other. If they do not like each other, we know that. We are in a conflict situation, but as people have mentioned before, we do not get peace without the parties to the conflict, sitting down, being prepared to work together. In that circumstance, the parties will not choose to do that. The parties have to be brought to the negotiating table by a world determined to make them do that. Economic power will help that, sustained political pressure will help that and we tonight can add our pressure to that process. We can, through our procurement work, whether it is choosing to buy Palestinian goods where they are still being produced and as citizens we can do that as well. We can look to the fair trade movement, shops like Hadeel that are still sourcing goods being made by Palestinians, whether it is olive oil or whether it is embroidery. That is a practical step that we can take. However, the bigger picture is, as others have said, the economic and political power. We must use that power because this conflict has been going on for decades. Unlike all the other situations that we could talk about, South Africa most probably prominently, where things are not perfect but there is progress. Palestine has actually gone back and Gaza is appalling. We cannot stand for that and we must do everything that we can to add our voices for a two-state solution and to demand that Israel and the Palestinians sit together. In fact, FATA and Hamas in April agreed a solution whereby the Palestinian authority would work together in Gaza. That surely is a first step forward and we must make sure that that actually happens. I now call on Colin Kear to be followed by Ken Macintosh. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I add my congratulations to Drew Smith for bringing forward this very important debate. TV screens are currently dominated by highly disturbing images from Gaza. As Drew Smith pointed out, Hamas is certainly not blameless in this conflict and I would condemn their rocket attacks. However, the effect of Israel's operation protective edge has shown how abhorrent and indiscriminate warfare can become. Amnesty International claims that war crimes have been committed by both sites, but the hammer that is the Israeli military offensive is so scattered gun in its approach that the effects are a shock to any person watching TV or reading media reports. Indeed, some of the images seen on social media are so harrowing that they just couldn't be televised. We keep on being told that we live in an age where warfare is computerised and targeted and this is what makes the bombing of UN schools or youngsters on a beach playing football all the more disgusting. It has been pointed out by others that this is not the first time that Israel has carried out this type of offensive and there is absolutely no moral justification for these actions. If for this was a moral war it is clear that most of the world believes Israel is losing. Indiscriminate violence against those who cannot defend themselves is simply not acceptable in a modern world. I support the Scottish Government in its calls for a UN investigation to be held as well as the offer of financial and medical assistance. It will also be interesting to see if there is a mechanism that may allow the international criminal court to play a part in future. The briefing today given by Save the Children gives stark figures that one in four Palestinians killed in this conflict are children. Schools and hospitals are damaged, are destroyed and shelter is now required for around 300,000 people. Infrastructure development has to happen. That is not easy at the best of times but it is impossible with missiles falling from the sky. Robert Turner of the UN relief and works agency for Palestine said, if we want to build something we have to submit a detailed project proposal to Israel with the design location and complete bill of quantities. The Israelis then review the proposal, a process that is supposed to take not more than two months but on average takes nearly 20. It is an absolutely silly situation to be in. International pressure really must be put on Israel to lift the blockade and to work tirelessly towards the two-state solution. Finally, the UK Government must make a stand. Armed sales to and from the UK must stop along with reciprocal military training arrangements. Not to do so would make the UK look as morally bankrupt as those who destroy innocent lives in Gaza and beyond. I thank Drew Smith for the opportunity to take part in this debate. I do not often speak on issues of foreign affairs but I want to make a specific and domestically focused contribution to our discussion. There is no doubt that the recent violence in Israel and Gaza has touched many people here in Scotland and it is difficult, if not impossible, not to be moved by the suffering that we have witnessed. It is a conflict that not only reflects deep divisions in the Middle East, it often polarises opinion in this country too and I have been contacted by constituents with strong feelings on both sides of that divide, primarily motivated by their own humanity. Although I would wish our response here in Scotland to be measured and respectful at all times, many local residents have contacted me to say how upset and hurt they have been at the imbalance and the one-sided nature of much of that coverage and response. As members will know, there is a sizeable and long-established Jewish community in my constituency and many local residents have family members living in Israel. As you might imagine, they are more aware than most of the suffering and the violence that ensues in that part of the world. Jewish Scots are directly affected every time tensions rise in the Middle East. Several local people have told me of the abuse that they receive and of their fear simply to go out in public wearing a kippa or anything else that marks them out as visibly Jewish. Parents and grandparents with children at Calderwood Lodge primary school have expressed their anxiety at their pupil's security and their wellbeing. Everyone has the right to protest and to express their views, but the Jewish community in the west of Scotland are feeling increasingly let down at a time when they are already feeling vulnerable. I have received many letters and calls on this issue, but I want to quote from one that captures much of that sense of upset and dismay. It is from a woman who is particularly concerned and anxious at the decision by Glasgow City Council to fly the Palestinian flag. She says, As a Scottish and Jewish citizen, I feel that this decision sends a strong message to the wider community. Will I fear not to be the one that is intended by the council? If the Scottish political establishment wishes to express hope for peace in the region, then they should be opting to fly more than one flag as a symbol of recognition of all parties affected by conflicts in that area. I am highly sympathetic of the Palestinian population's right to a two-state solution and to self-governance, and I feel that such a solution is paramount. However, the current situation whereby anti-Israel sentiment is allowing anti-Semitic behaviour to come to the fore across Europe is frankly highly disturbing. The decisions of Scottish councils to use a demonstrative action as a means of promoting peace will, I fear, promote further community division and potentially incite hatred. She signs herself a frightened mother of two children. I believe that we do want to send out a message emphasising our common humanity, but I am particularly grateful to Drew Smith for recognising the need for balance in his own contribution on this emotive and painful issue. I thank Drew Smith for encouraging the debate and indeed the well-crafted motion that others have referred to. I should declare my membership of the cross-party group and also of Amnesty and Oxfam, whom I thank along with others for the briefings. What the whole affair has cried out for is honours, brokers and organisations like that have provided that. There are a couple of phrases that have been repeated throughout this discussion, disproportionate being one of them, and I certainly view the actions of the Israeli Defence Force as disproportionate, but I am concerned that that might suggest that, had there been some less bombing, some less abuse hurled at the gas and population that would have been acceptable. Like others, I am happy to say that I unreservedly will say that violence from whatever quarter is unacceptable. The term indiscriminate has been used, too, and I am not sure that Israeli Defence soldiers writing in children's school books in schools that they have destroyed and writing their regiment names in the wall is anything other than a calculated act. I do worry that it is part of a wider issue of contempt for the mere existence of the gas and community. The arms industry is a pernicious organisation worldwide and they have been very much involved in this. The Israeli Government has a wonderful test centre right on their doorstep with gas and guinea pigs or sitting ducks. I have to say that it is my view that there are sick minds at play. We do not need new weapons, we do not need the so-called smart weapons. As my colleague Claudia Beamish said, we saw first hand what the consequence of their so-called smart weapons was, and that was the death of 11 members of one family in a very confined area. I am proud that the Scottish Government called for an arms embargo. Like my colleague Cara Hilton, I would contrast with the virtual silence from elsewhere. I commend my colleague Jean Urquhart's motion alluded to by Alison Johnstone about bicot divestment in science. I think that that is the route that we need to take. Others have talked about the role of the UN and I welcome the general secretary of Anki Moon's description of, excuse me, events as being intolerable and unacceptable. We have heard also of the challenges of delivering aid and that is compounded by the death of infrastructure that exists in that location. I want to say in relation to Drew Smith's comments about the Scottish community and what we just heard from Mr Markintosh. In my view, a victim is a victim. I do not need to know whether they profess to have faith or to have no faith. I think that a victim is a victim full-stop and I would abhor Islamophobia and anti-Semitism and I would commend the Jewish communities, particularly in the US, Cleveland and Boston, who have been very active in the organisation Code Pink. The motion talks about living in peace with dignity and security and I would like to commend to people who have not already seen it. There is a wonderful YouTube clip of it. I hope that I pronounced our name right. It is a wonderful point called, we choose life, sir. There is a line that says, every day we wake up and we choose life. Life is going to be intolerable for the citizens of Gaza if that blockade is maintained. The International Committee of the Red Cross and the UN have said that it is illegal. We must end that blockade now. We must renew our efforts to ensure that there is a lasting peace in a two-state solution. James Dornan moved the closing speech from the minister. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. I had not initially intended to speak in this debate, but I feel that I should. I had the privilege of speaking at a demo in Buchanan Street about four weeks ago and the strength of feeling about this horrendous issue was overwhelming. What was very positive was that people who were passing the demo, who were not going to the demo, who were shopping on Buchanan Street, were very sympathetic to what was going on there. I do not usually take part in demos. It is just not the sort of politician that I have been, but the sites that I had seen on social media the week running up to that broke my heart and made me feel that I had to take part in this one. This one meant more than almost any other one that we had. I take the point about what Ken Mackintosh says about people feeling worried because of the imbalance—although I will come back to the imbalance thing in a minute. I do not know anybody in my circles or certainly in this chamber who has said that this is anything to do with people being Jewish. Nobody in this chamber has said that this is anything to do with Israel's right to self-defence. What it has got to do with is that Israel is completely indiscriminate and completely disproportionate attack on the people of Gaza. Anybody who could look at the photos and the films that we have seen and see children with half their heads missing and some other horrendous sites, I saw when Patricia Ferguson was speaking that she was clearly visibly upset about what she was having to talk about. I think that that is how most of us feel in here. This is not an attack on any community. As a matter of fact, it is such a common trying to come to the safeguard of a particular community. In this case, it is the people of Gaza. There are wrongs being taken place there. Nobody supports Hamas. I have not heard anybody come out and support Hamas or the rocket firing or the tunnels, as many other people have said here. However, let's get things in proportion. Bombing schools and hospitals and targeting utilities are not the actions of a reasonable Government. That is not the actions that Israel should be taking. If they are serious about wanting to live in peace with their neighbours, they are certainly going the wrong way about it. What I would ask them to do is lift up blockade. I asked the minister and my motion that I put down earlier on to look at how the Scottish Government—that was mentioned by Sandra White earlier on—could look at an embargo on trading with the illegal settlements. The illegal settlement should not be there. We should not be encouraging them in any way. I think that that might be some way towards sending a message that we here in Scotland support and stand by the people of Gaza and Palestine. Finally, I now call on the minister to close the debate on behalf of the Government. The minister has seven minutes, so please. Normally, it is customary to thank the member for bringing this debate to the chamber. Of course, I do for securing that cross-party support, but I think that I can speak certainly on behalf of the Government, possibly even on behalf of the chamber, that it is a debate that we would rather not be having. It is often commented—it has been commented once or twice by the speakers here—that I must make reference to the tone of the debate. It has been exemplary across the chamber on what is a very difficult and emotional debate, but we have done ourselves well in that regard. It is often commented that conflict is in our nature as human beings. Humanity and the pages of history have never had a time without some sort of conflict. However, I believe that empathy is also very much a part of our human nature. Even the hardest and coldest hearts cannot fail to be moved by the scenes of devastation and destruction that we have seen unfolding in the Gaza Strip. Some of those statistics, which, of course, there is a story behind every single one, have been mentioned by members across the chamber. Almost 2,000 gazins killed the vast majority of them—the vast majority of them—the UN suspects being civilian. 458 children killed. 1.5 million people have no or very limited access to water. 200,000 people in the Gaza Strip in need of emergency food aid. Over 65,000 people made homeless a health system on the verge of utter and complete collapse, with 24 health facilities either damaged or facing acute shortages of medicine. The Scottish Government will not stand idly by where that takes place. We have to be proactive and we have to be unequivocal in the messages that we deliver. Of course, we condemn all violence. We have established every single member that has stood up, has condemned all of that violence. The Scottish Government also joins in its remarks that make no mistake about it. Rockets that are fired into Israel are wrong. They are designed to injure and to kill indiscriminately. The Scottish Government says that they must stop and must stop now. Everybody agrees that, of course, Israel has a right to live in security and safety. However, it must be widely recognised and stated on the record that the Israeli Government's response has been utterly and completely disproportionate. It must be condemned in the strongest possible manner for that. Those who have failed to condemn it—there are some on those islands who have failed to condemn it—are doing it themselves. They are also humanity and injustice. A provocation—yes, there is provocation—does not relieve one of accountability for how one chooses to respond. All of us believe that an immediate and long-term ceasefire is needed. Yes, we have seen a ceasefire extended beyond the 72 hours period, and all of us are hoping that it extends into a long-term ceasefire. We, of course, need those who are firing rockets into Israel to immediately put down their weapons. The Israeli Government, of course, sees its fire. Of course, we must go to the inhumanity of that situation and ensure that the ceasefire is important in terms of dropping and stopping the weapon fire. The blockade must be lifted. Gazza is, as some have said, an open air prison. That is not my words, that is the words of the Prime Minister, David Cameron, in 2010. It is an open air prison. It is collective punishment. Although the powers of foreign affairs are, of course, reserved by and large to the UK Government—the Scottish Government, I believe, has been decisive in its action—I will try to respond to some of the questions that came from the chamber. We have donated £500,000 to the UN flash appeal to the UNRWA flash appeal for shelter and medicine. It is important that we do that, although we do not have a ring friend's budget for emergency aid. As I said, we cannot stand idly by. I urge people to continue to donate to the DEC. It has launched an appeal, and you can see more information on their website and how to donate. One of the first offers that we have made was about medical assistance in opening up our hospitals for medical treatment. Some members have mentioned that they have been contacted about a delay. The Scottish Government, which spoke last week, had a teleconference with the director of medical aid for Palestinians in Gazza, a map director in Gazza. We told them about the specialisms that we have here in Scotland. We also heard about the priority of cases that they have in Gazza. The next step is for those consultants on the ground in Gazza to give us a list of the priorities and the cases that they need to treat it. However, make no mistake about it, the Scottish Government faces the exact same obstacles as anybody else does. There is a blockade, an illegal and inhumane blockade of Gazza. We are at this moment experiencing difficulty in bringing people to Scotland. That said, we received a letter from the Prime Minister in response to the First Minister's letter on the situation. The Prime Minister, at the end of his letter, said that the UK intends to also offer its hospitals to treat. As we called for them to do, to treat the injured in Gazza in UK hospitals and the Scottish hospitals, he was aware of the offer from Scottish hospitals. Logistically, we will hopefully have some assistance from the UK Government that let me give every assurance to all the members here that we are doing our utmost to be able to treat those in Gazza where we can and when we can. The UK Government must bring more urgency to its actions. That was the letter that the First Minister sent to the Prime Minister. The UK, I believe, has been, unfortunately, painfully silent and too stagnant in its actions. I spoke to Baroness Warsi the night that she chose to leave the Government, which, I think, would have been a painfully difficult decision for her. I commended her on her actions but agreed with her entirely that the UK Government's position on Gazza has been painfully silent and indefensible. If it cannot be stronger on this issue, then, at the very least, we urge that the UK and all of us are not complicit in any of the atrocities that are taking place in the Gazza Strip. That is why we called for an immediate arms embargo. The UN has said that there is a strong possibility that international law has been violated. Anki Mun, after the shelling of the UN shelter on Ruffa, has said that that was a moral outrage and a criminal act. There must be an embargo. Make no mistake about it, and Alison Johnstone is quite right to raise the point about the plant and fife. Make no mistake about it, whether that company is Scottish, English, Northern Irish or Welsh, we believe that there should be a complete arms embargo, and it is disgraceful that profit is being put over compassion. Sandra White and Alison Johnstone asked us to look at and other members asked us to look at the procurement legislation. I know that campaign has gone into the Deputy First Minister. She is aware of that, and she is looking at it and exploring what can be done in terms of illegal settlements. It should be said that the UK Government's own guidance says that they do not encourage or support trade with illegal settlements, so that that should be put very much on the record. Let me also address Ken Macintosh's point, and one that was made by others as well. If the Jewish community in Glasgow is feeling that they are perhaps victim to antisemitism because of the rising tensions in the Middle East, let me give them an assurance that the Scottish Government will stand with them. Any antisemitism is to be absolutely abhorred. I have spoken to Lord Advocate about it this morning, and I will give him an assurance to speak to Lord Advocate again to continue to monitor that situation. I just want to end on a story. We get caught up sometimes in statistics, and we forget that there is a story behind every single one of those statistics. Again, this is not about being pro-Israeli or pro-Palestinian. It is simply at its very base being pro-humanitarian. I urge everybody to look at the story of a mother in Canyunus in the Gaza Strip by the name of Waddon Shimala. Read her story if you can. She is a mother of three children who moved back to the Gaza Strip, and you have to hear her story to believe it. She asks all of us to think whether to think of her own children or think of her own nieces and nephews or her own grandchildren. Imagine that you had three of them. Every night before she goes to sleep, she has to ask herself the question, does she have all three children sleeping in her bed with her and her husband so that if a rocket hits the house, they all die together as a family? Or does she, as she does some nights, and would we if we were in that situation, does she split two children with her and one with her husband so that if a missile hits, then maybe some of them will survive? If you are to split up your children and your family, then how do you choose which children you would put in which room? That is a choice that no parent should have to make and no individual should have to make. The Scottish Government calls on the immediate lifting of the blockade. There is a political solution, nor a military solution. Ceremonies are illegal and should be removed. We support that two-state solution, and at the heart of the injustice over the decades has been, of course, that Israel has a right to safety and security, but at the heart of the injustice is the utter denial of a viable Palestinian state over the decades. Above and beyond the politics is the humanitarian, and the Scottish Government stands and unites with every single member across its chamber to say that children are not terrorists, whether they are playing on a beach or feeding pigeons or sleeping in a UN shelter. Innocent civilians must never be targeted, and that is why we call for a UN investigation immediately into the killing of civilians, so that those who have been violating international law, possibly violating international law, feel the full force of international justice.