THB Israel Never Truly Wanted Peace with Palestine - Full Debate

Thank you all. I stand here tonight as the first Palestinian president of this house and I want to be honest with you about how that feels. I was elected at a time when my own family in Gaza were and are being subjected to a genocide. So, I stand before you in in fancy dress at a podium

with a microphone in front of an audience and I feel an immense and uncomfortable guilt because I know the only reason I have the opportunities my cousins do not is an accident. I was born in London. I have a piece of paper that says I'm British. And so, when I thought about what the

debate I wanted to hold on the topic of the Palestinian struggle should be, I do not want to ask whether the killing should stop. The answer is obvious. I do not want to debate whether Palestinians deserve a state. That answer is obvious too. I wanted to ask the question that underpins all the others. The one that

explains why after 78 years and a dozen so-called peace deals, my family are still under rubble. Now, let me set the ground because this whole debate does rest on a single word. The motion does not say Israel never signed anything. It does not say Israel never talked about peace. It says Israel never truly wanted it. So here is the

test I'm asking this house to hold every speaker to tonight. A genuine desire for peace is not measured by handshakes in the White House lawn. It is not measured by speeches, by ceremonies, or by offers made for the cameras. It is measured by one thing. Does your conduct on the ground make a Palestinian state, a state

of existence where Palestinians are treated with dignity and equal rights more possible or less? Because words are cheap. settlements and the blood on the ground are not and never will be. And when I say Israel, I do not mean only its government. I mean the political project, the institutions, and the public attitudes that produce