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Published Date: 08 January 2009
By Staff Copy

SCARBOROUGH MP Robert Goodwill has described the conflict in Gaza and deaths of Palestinian women and children as "heartbreaking".

Mr Goodwill, who is the president of Scarborough and District United Nations Association, met Israeli political figures during a visit to the country in 2005.

He welcomed news of a possible breakthrough in ceasefire talks, but said the crisis
did not come as a surprise.

He said: "I greatly sympathise with the civilian Palestinian population, but no-one was surprised when this happened.

"If 50 rockets were launch- ed into Scarborough it would not be long before people attacked those who were sending them – and that has been the problem in this situation."

Israeli forces have bombarded Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza by land, air and sea since December 27, while Palestinian rockets continue to hit Israel.

But Palestinians says that Israel provoked reaction by stopping fuel and other supplies into the country, by preventing pregnant women from getting through checkpoints to reach hospital and by preventing students from taking up places at university, among other issues.

More than 560 Palestinians are said to have been killed since the violence began, a great number of them women and children.

The Israelis say they have suffered eight casualties, including three civilians and a soldier killed in Palestinian attacks on Israel.

Yesterday Israel temporarily suspended military operations in Gaza in the first of what it says will be a daily ceasefire to create "humanitarian corridors" for supplies and fuel.

Pressure has built on Hamas to accept a plan, backed by the UN and the US and proposed by Egypt and France, for an immediate ceasefire.

Mr Goodwill said: "I am pleased to hear the latest announcement that there is going to be a daily three-hour ceasefire so aid can get in and people can be transferred to hospital.

"I am also heartened that Nicolas Sarkozy and Egypt have come up with some form of plan towards a more sustained ceasefire."

He added: "Four to five years ago I was in Israel and at that time there was a real prospect of peace, but it is so very heartbreaking that whenever there is the prospect of long-lasting peace, it just doesn't happen."



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  • Last Updated: 08 January 2009 9:57 AM
  • Source: Scarborough Evening News
  • Location: Scarborough
 
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1

English like wot she is meant to be spoke,

08/01/2009 11:33:48
Fascinating to read Mr Goodwill's informative account of the situation in the Middle East, backed up as it is by his visit FOUR years ago. Truly a man with his finger on the pulse of Foreign Affairs. I bet "Nicolas Sarkozy and Egypt" are heartened by his words of support.
2

electro,

08/01/2009 12:24:49
Send him to the front in Gaza, then let him comment.

Once again the gob of the north east blathers from the safety of his armchair.

Despicable!!!!!!!!!!!!!
3

Mortal Mindy,

08/01/2009 14:03:22
Once again the shallow and sallow MP Mr Goodwill talking rubbish about an important issue he clearly has little knowledge about. He talks of sympathy for the Palestinians and then says the Israeli attack is of no surprise! And then to suggest that should Scarborough be attacked by 50 rockets makes a whole mockery of the situation and his own understanding! Clearly he thinks Scarborians are a bit thick. The Israelis have bulldozed Palestinian homes, blockaded over 1 million native people into an area with no natural resources, stealing the water supplies, farming land and denying them access to work, travel, fuel, limited medicines and any normal independent economic activity. The Israelis have over the years built their own nation by imprisoning and enslaving Palestinians , men, women and children to feed there own greed and self righteous beliefs.
4

Mortal Mindy,

08/01/2009 14:15:04
Further: If Mr Goodwill wants to compare with Scarborough - try displacing over 1.5 million people into an area from Filey to Whitby ie 25 miles long, 4/5 miles wide (courtesy of BBC newspage). aNd apply every restriction on those people mix with dire poverty and inhumane treatment and devalue their lives in every way possible. Oh and then send in the bombs, tanks and army to finish them off if they complain.
5

badger464,

08/01/2009 17:19:09
wouldn't it be nice if instead of saying silly things frequently he could say something clever every once in a while
6

English like wot she is meant to be spoke,

08/01/2009 18:12:55
Agreed badger. But equally nice if he could just stop talking. Or perhaps if the SEN didn't print his every inane public utterance as headline news.
7

English like wot she is meant to be spoke,

08/01/2009 18:30:01
Sorry but one more word on this rent-a-quote bore.

I wouldn't mind so much his every word on every subject being printed as if it were in some way news, if the SEN would give equal space to the candidates from other main parties for them to reply.

You get the picture: Goodwill comes out with the immortal "no-one was surprised when this happened", can the Labour and Liberal candidates think of anything slightly more illuminating to say in response? Fair's fair, SEN, and it might make him think twice about shooting his mouth off about issues that are clearly beyond his comprehension.
8

Against Bereaurcracy.,

09/01/2009 07:18:22
If Goodwill is the answer, then it was an extremely stupid question.
9

English like wot she is meant to be spoke,

13/01/2009 16:48:47
And thrilled though we all are to hear "our" MP has has "hit out" at the ongoing issue of mixed-sex accommodation in hospitals, on closer reading he seems to have nothing too intesting to say about that either.

Sweep the Tories to power and they will abolish mixed-sex accommodation in hospitals, as it's now being called. Or will they? Have you noticed he never actually says what his lot will do if and when they get back to power? Maybe that nice Mr Cameron hasn't got round yet to discussing with Goodwill what Conservative policy will be, or maybe he just hasn't got a clue but feels the need to say something, anything, to justify his existence.

What really irks though is the way the paper still reports his every word as if it were news. Even if he can only manage a couple of bland sentences on the subject in hand, they will flesh the story out with a few facts (garnered from an online encyclopaedia I expect), and try their hardest to make it into a Party Political Broadcast.
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