Letter comes as Senedd set to vote on crunch ceasefire motion on Wednesday, with pro-ceasefire protesters gathering from noon outside the Welsh Parliament in Cardiff.
Palestine groups across Wales are ‘dismayed’ that the Welsh Government reportedly plan to abstain on the motion.
Wales TUC also writes to the First Minister, urging him to back an end to the bombing, which has already seen over 10,000 Palestinians killed by Israel in a month.
News. Cover image: People protest outside the Senedd calling for a ceasefire last month, by Ka Long Tung
One of the biggest youth organisations in Europe, Urdd Gobaith Cymru, is among 46 organisations from across Welsh civil society that have called on the First Minister, Mark Drakeford MS, to support a ceasefire in Gaza.
The Urdd is a national voluntary youth organisation with over 55,000 members between the ages of 8 – 25 yrs old. Running for over 100 years, its mascot Mr Urdd is known by children throughout Wales.
The call comes as children in Gaza face a greater threat of death than those who have lived through any other conflict in generations.
Since Israel began its relentless bombing campaign, using heavy artillery in residential areas and even on schools and hospitals, an average of 136 children a day have been killed over thirty days.
The total number of Palestinian children killed by Israel in that time period is 4,100, bringing the overall death toll to over 10,000.
Yesterday, a British Palestinian doctor in Gaza told Channel 4 News he had treated children with White Phosphorus injuries, the chemical weapon that burns fiercely through human flesh.
A group of Palestinian children even held their own press conference on Tuesday, standing together and telling the world that they face ‘extermination.’
Despite the reality on the ground however, described by the UN as the among the worst humanitarian crises in living memory and ‘a graveyard for children’, Western politicians including Mark Drakeford have refused to back calls for an immediate ceasefire.
In the open letter to the First Minister, which has been signed by a range of organisations, including the Muslim Council of Wales, Welsh Labour Grassroots, the Cardiff Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Race Alliance Wales, Urdd Gobaith Cymru, Cymdeithas y Cymod (the Fellowship of Reconciliation) and voice.wales among others, the Government is urged to support a ceasefire, along with rights for Palestinians and humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip.
In a separate development, the Wales Trade Union Congress, the body bringing together Wales’ trade unions, has also written to Mark Drakeford calling for a ceasefire.
The letters come before Senedd Members debate and vote on a motion for a ceasefire introduced by Plaid Cymru on Wednesday 8 November.
The charity Oxfam has called a lobby outside The Senedd from 12 noon on Wednesday.
So far, the First Minister has refused to support a ceasefire, declaring support instead for a ‘humanitarian pause’, a measure which the open letter calls “insufficient”.
The signatories are calling on the First Minister and all Members of the Senedd to vote in favour of a full ceasefire instead.
The letter says:
“A break in the bombardment, only for more civilians to die once it resumes, is insufficient. A ceasefire is urgently needed, and is the only way to prevent further loss of life and begin to take steps towards negotiations for peace.”
It continues:
“The First Minister of Scotland, the leader of Scottish Labour and the Mayors of London and Manchester have called for a ceasefire, as well as MPs and MSs from all parties, and elected politicians around the world. It would be a shame if our First Minister, leader of a Nation of Sanctuary with a proud tradition of internationalism, did not join those calls.”
After reports emerged indicating that the Welsh Government, led by Welsh Labour and Mark Drakeford, plan to abstain on the motion, local groups of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) from across Wales hit out at the First Minister.
Kathy Brooks, Chair of Montgomeryshire PSC, said on behalf of the PSC branches in Wales: “We cannot understand why First Minister Mark Drakeford and his team of ministers are planning to sit on the fence. Men, women and children are dying agonising deaths every day in Gaza at the hands of the Israeli military – and you prepare to stay silent.
“You have the chance to add your voice to the call to stop.”
The group said that the hypocrisy was stark, given that Mark Drakeford did not sit on the fence when it came to the war in Ukraine.
Meanwhile the general secretary of the Wales TUC, Shavanah Taj, has also written to Mark Drakeford asking him to “lend your voice and the voice of the Welsh Government to the growing calls for a ceasefire in Israel and Palestine.”
The letter goes onto say that, “we believe that it is vital that Wales lives up to its commitments of international solidarity and does whatever it can to push for peace.”
Josef Gnagbo, Chair of Cymdeithas yr Iaith, one of the groups behind the open letter, said:
“The Scottish and Irish Governments have already called for a ceasefire. Several other prominent leaders in the Labour Party, including Anas Sarwar, Sadiq Khan, Andy Burnham and his own Health Minister, Eluned Morgan, have already made principled stands of their own. Which side of history will our First Minister and Government here in Wales be on?”
Key Palestine events coming up.
Wednesday 8th Nov, 12 noon – 6pm, Senedd, Cardiff Bay, lobby the Welsh Government to back a ceasefire.
Saturday 11th Nove,12, noon, Nye Bevan Statue, Cardiff, Ceasefire Now protestSaturday 11th Nov, 12 noon, Hyde Park, London, for coach enquiries click here.
