Tim Bick responds to Palestinian Flag Proposal

Cllr Tim Bick explained the Lib Dem group’s view that the Palestinian flag should not be flown over the Guildhall: 

"This is matter of international relations for which this council has no responsibility of any kind. 

"We have been elected to act as stewards for the wellbeing of our area, run its local services, and stand up for its local interests in relation to other bodies. This motion is outside that sphere by some considerable distance. 

"To vote it down is calculated to make it look as if we don’t care - when of course we all do, just like everyone else reading their newspapers and watching the terrible news.   

"So now this motion is in front of us, we propose we turn it into something that it is sensible for a local public body to do in recognising the various resolutions on the subject by another public body, a global one, the UN. These resolutions all call for the two state solution, allowing the Palestinian people a secure homeland and autonomy within it,  that people round this council and all recent UK governments have said they support, but has eluded everyone for 75 years and more.

"But it is not in our view appropriate to endorse the two state solution and then propose to fly only one of the two state’s flags. Whatever subtext justification might exist, that is certain to be misinterpreted in a divisive way. This council is not the body to manage that outfall. If a flag is to be flown it should be the UN flag"

Cllr Bick went on to set out his own view about the underlying issues in the Middle East:

Speaking as an individual I will readily say that the conflict that has been going on for the past year has gone way beyond any rights to self defence. I find the wholesale killing and maiming of a whole people, the destruction of what vestiges of civilised life existed, more and more appropriation of land - as outrages. This should not be dignified as a religious dispute, it is a political dispute with many people of all faiths – and I mean all faiths - round the world angered by the deeds of an expansionist right wing government. It needs a political solution, not a military one, which is the recruiting agent of the next generation of terrorists. The killing must stop and the talking and the release of hostages must begin. The ceasefire this week in Lebanon is encouraging, but only a part of the issue. I imagine my views might be the view of many local people - but conceivably not all.

I bitterly share the powerlessness that others feel - but this city council cannot be the agent of progress. I will support my political party, which I consider represents my views on this and I will vote for Liberal Democrat members of parliament who will advance those views in a forum which at least has a role in fashioning our country’s foreign policy where some leverage might be found.  

After debate, the council agreed that the UN flag should be flown at the Guildhall