Bravo Bhaji – Tribute to a Baroness

Kaliph Anaz says the resignation of Baroness Warsi will affect the Tory prospects of winning some of the marginal seats in the 2015 general election

Baroness Sayeeda Warsi during an official engagement as foreign office minister
Baroness Sayeeda Warsi during an official engagement as foreign office minister

Barosness Sayeeda Warsi will be remembered in the British history for her brave decision to quit the government over a principled stand on Gaza. Mrs Warsi, Bhaji to her loyal followers, joining rank with politicians like Robin Cook and Clare Short.

Warsi’s decision to quit the government will have long term repercussions in the Conservative rank and file. As the nation goes to poll in May 2015, the decision of the most influential Muslim politician will tilt the balance in many marginal seats. When the Tories are hesitant to condemn Israel for the Gaza raids, the Opposition Labour and its leader Ed Miliband openly criticised Israel.

“The prime minister is wrong not to have opposed Israel’s incursion into Gaza,” Miliband said. “And his silence on the killing of hundreds of innocent Palestinian civilians caused by Israel’s military action will be inexplicable to people across Britain and internationally.”

This sentiment was echoed in Baroness Warsi’s resignation letter.

“For some weeks, in meetings and discussions, I have been open and honest about my views on the conflict in Gaza and our response to it,” she wrote to Prime Minister David Cameron.

“My view has been that our policy in relation to the Middle East Peace Process generally but more recently our approach and language during the current crisis in Gaza is morally indefensible, is not in Britain’s national interest and will have a long term detrimental impact on our reputation internationally and domestically.”

This is the feeling of most of the peace loving people in the British society. They are quite disappointed with the silence of US President Barack Obama and Cameron. Despite the initial appearance on Telly, the envoy of the Quartet Tony Blair is also missing. The much talkative politician is now elusive even to provide sound bites.

Baroness Warsi’s principled stand on Gaza should be the first step for our historic mistake for supporting the Zionists. The Balfour Declaration. dated 2 November 1917, pave the seed  for a Jewish nation in the middle of Arabs. The wounds created by the British politicians are the root cause of today’s problems.

Then foreign secretary Arthur James Balfour wrote to Baron Rothschild, a leader of the British Jewish community, for transmission to the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland.

He wrote: “His Majesty’s government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.”

The text of the letter was published in the press one week later, on 9 November 1917. The “Balfour Declaration” was later incorporated into the Sèvres peace treaty with the Ottoman Empire and the Mandate for Palestine.  That half cooked solution for an eternal problem putting the lives of both Jewish and Palestinian in jeopardy.

Everybody is saying there is a war going on in Gaza. Is it a war? Israeli jest bombing Gaza homes, hospitals and schools.  Huge Israeli tanks manoeuvring in sand fumes. Bodies of Gaza children at freezers! What a tragedy!

We believe a two nation solution is the only way to bring peace to the region. That will ensure peace and protection for Israelis and it will provide dignity and security to Palestinians. With the concrete walls and the siege, Israel is behaving like apartheid era South Africa. By  ignoring the pleas of world bodies including the UN, they are undermining the very existence of a peaceful global system. We have to stop this injustice. For the sake of the future generation, both the parties involved in the conflict must stop fighting. Britain has a responsibility to intervene. By supplying arms and ammunition to Israel, we are becoming the part of the problem. Palestine needs $5 billion to rebuild their country, and we are offering a meagre sum of £3million!

Wake up, wake up!