FAO Lord Provost of Aberdeen - Cllr David Cameron 

I understand that you have decided not to fly the Palestinian flag on the 29th of November, the UN Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, despite the Council having done this since 2013. I am utterly shocked by this decision and can only assume that you have not recognised the political statement this act will be, and the impact it will have on communities across the city. Flying the flag is meant to be a civic action, not a political one.

You have commented that “recognising the current conflict is not of the making of either the Palestinian or Israeli people, for consistency, in 2023, the Aberdeen City Flag will be flown on 29th November. Thereafter, assuming a satisfactory resolution of this conflict, the Palestine Flag will be flown on 29th November each year, until such time as a stable, acceptable two-state position is established.” but I would suggest that this is a flawed reasoning for the following reasons;

• There is no need for ‘consistency’ on this. There is a UN day for the Palestinian People because they are an oppressed people living under a brutal military occupation. There is no UN Day for Israel because Israel is state, and one in breach of numerous UN resolutions. It is an occupying military power that is named on the UK Government Human Rights Priority Countries list as a country of continuing concern. The state of Israel maintains full military control over Gaza and the West Bank and as an occupying power has legal obligations under international law. A few examples:
  • the occupying power must ensure sufficient hygiene and public health standards, as well as the provision of food and medical care to the population under occupation.
  • Collective or individual forcible transfers of population from and within the occupied territory are prohibited
  • Collective punishment is prohibited
  • Reprisals against protected persons or their property are prohibited
• As you will recognise from the above and the daily news from Gaza and West Bank, Israel is not fulfilling its obligations, and 2.2 million residents of Gaza have been suffering unimaginable violence and deprivations for the last 6 weeks as a result. This adds to the ongoing violations of international law including accelerated illegal settlement expansion, pillage of Palestinian resources, bombing of UN facilities and killing of UN aid workers.
• You have commented that ‘Thereafter, assuming a satisfactory resolution of this conflict, the Palestine Flag will be flown on 29th November each year’. In effect, what you are saying is that Palestinians only deserve solidarity when they are not under a full-blown attack by the occupying power that is supposed to be protecting them. You are saying that despite the fact almost 15000 Gazans, including 6150 children, have been killed by the Israel military over the last 6 weeks, you do not think it would be appropriate to continue Aberdeen's tradition of marking an international humanitarian commemoration that will be recognised across the globe.

Perhaps the most disappointing - and dangerous - part of the reasoning behind your decision is that you are in effect treating the civil population of Palestine as responsible for the actions of Hamas. That is the equivalent of holding all Jews responsible for the actions of the state of Israel, an action that I am sure you recognise would be inherently antisemitic.

The UN event is rightly going ahead on the 29th this year, and I encourage you to do the right thing and not break with Aberdeen’s tradition! Not flying the flag this year, especially considering the reasoning you have given, would set a dangerous precedent of allowing politics to interfere with a humanitarian civic act. It would be a divisive act that would reflect badly on Aberdeen City Council.

Fly the flag!