Thank you to Cllr Connor Brady for submitting this piece. Connor has given his thoughts on the latest developments in Israel and Palestine. Read what he had to say below:

Just because the bombs have stopped falling on Palestine doesn't mean that the Palestinians are free from the apartheid conditions in which they have been stuck for decades.

I was proud to attend the Stoke-on-Trent Free Palestine demonstration a few weeks ago as people across different backgrounds and ages came together in Hanley Park to send a clear message that we will not stop until Palestine is free.

Hundreds marched in support of Palestine and held a minute silence for those who have lost their lives. The event was organised by students from Keele university who stressed that the people of Palestine are being stripped of their dignity and that they want to make a difference to those conditions.

I am inspired by the number of young people who came out to demonstrate against the horrific treatment of the Palestinians and those that led this event.

This last round of bombardment of Palestine came after the Israeli security force used tear gas, stun grenades, and rubber bullets to disperse worshipers at the Al Aqsa Mosque.

This led to terrorist attacks on Israel with rocket attacks before the Israeli government responded with 11 days of relentless bombardment of Palestine with housing blocks destroyed, media targeted, with videos of children hiding and crying as bombs fell and whole families being murdered in the bombing as 200 Palestinians including 58 children were murdered in the bombardment.

However, as the bombing from the Israeli government has stopped, it leaves the Palestinian people in worsening conditions in a place which has been blockaded for 14 years. 90,000 people were displaced by this bombardment, whilst 800,000 people in Gaza do not have regular access to clean piped water.

The reality is that the Israeli government is overseeing an apartheid state. Palestinians are treated as second class citizens in Israel as they are segregated, being forced into the Gaza strip

and across the West Bank where the Israeli government continues to increase illegal settlements which kick Palestinian people out of their homes and take them over.

The Israeli government prevents Palestinians from returning to their homes and lands across the country, unlawfully imprisons children, and has a road system which has glorious new roads for Israeli citizens and excludes Palestinians.

The Gaza strip has an unemployment rate of 43% and a poverty rate of 56% due to the constant military bombardment by the Israeli government and the blockade of aid and goods to Gaza.

The Israeli government is very clearly looking to completely destroy Palestine and the Palestinian people after years of violence deliberately done to break their spirit and destroy any infrastructure left, as well as attacking during the holy time of Ramadan.

This level of murder, devastation and human rights abuse is something that the world allows, and the UK supports by continuing to sell arms to murder civilians.

The situation in Palestine is truly devastating with painful inhuman stories of violence and suffering that no human being should ever go through. The United Kingdom should finally recognise the state of Palestine, stop selling arms to the Israeli government, and push for a worldwide momentum to implement international resolutions to stop the bloodshed and apartheid.

In the meantime, we must do everything that we can to Free Palestine.

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