Israel Exhibition: MSPs refusing to sign motion

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Response from Robert Brown, Scottish Liberal Democrats, Glasgow Regional MSP

From: Robert.Brown.msp@scottish.parliament.uk
Sent: 14/04/2010 16:21:45
Subject: RE: S3M-6106 Patrick Harvie: Exhibition on Israeli Technology

Thank you for your letter. The exhibition is being sponsored by Ken McIntosh MSP and it is a matter for his judgement whether or not to support it. It is not the job of Parliament to censor such exhibitions. On the whole, I am not in the business of banning things and frankly I view it as a matter of freedom of speech. Accordingly, while Patrick Harvie's motion is expressed in perfectly reasonable terms, I am not myself prepared to sign it.

I am not at all enthusiastic about the Government of Israel, whether the present one or other recent ones. Their disproportionate actions in Gaza and Palestine more generally, and indeed their settlements policy, have been inhumane and, as you say, illegal in many respects, and has made a difficult situation far worse.

Having said that, the State of Israel is a fact. Any settlement in the region of Palestinian issues must be on the basis of a two state solution where each side genuinely recognises the right of the other to exist and where there is a general settlement based on human rights concepts. That is likely to be possible only with the strongest pressure by the USA in particular and European powers like Britain more generally.

MSPs will, no doubt, view the exhibition according to their own views. It will not influence my own view of the Israeli Government and, frankly, I doubt if it will influence anyone else's view either.

Thank you again for writing to me.