{"id":82539,"date":"2023-11-13T17:58:23","date_gmt":"2023-11-13T17:58:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.estaql.com\/what-does-david-camerons-return-to-uk-politics-mean-for-the-middle-east-israel-palestine-conflict-news\/"},"modified":"2023-11-13T17:58:23","modified_gmt":"2023-11-13T17:58:23","slug":"what-does-david-camerons-return-to-uk-politics-mean-for-the-middle-east-israel-palestine-conflict-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/estaql.com\/seo\/what-does-david-camerons-return-to-uk-politics-mean-for-the-middle-east-israel-palestine-conflict-news\/","title":{"rendered":"What does David Cameron\u2019s return to UK politics mean for the Middle East? | Israel-Palestine conflict News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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What does David Cameron\u2019s return to UK politics mean for the Middle East? | Israel-Palestine conflict News<\/h2>\n

What does David Cameron\u2019s return to UK politics mean for the Middle East? | Israel-Palestine conflict News<\/p>\n

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The unexpected return of former United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron to British politics during Israel\u2019s war in Gaza and pro-Palestinian protests in Britain has sparked questions over the implications for the UK\u2019s policies towards the Middle East.<\/p>\n

Cameron, now foreign secretary, has previously called the Gaza Strip \u201ca prison camp\u201d and advocated for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, but he has also been a staunch backer of Israel. On October 9, as Israel announced a \u201ctotal\u201d blockade on Gaza and pummelled the enclave in retaliation for a surprise attack two days earlier by the armed Palestinian group Hamas, the 57-year-old made his pronouncement in favour of the Jewish state.<\/p>\n

\u201cI stand in complete solidarity with Israel at this most challenging time and fully back the Prime Minister and UK Government in their unequivocal and steadfast support,\u201d he said on X, including the blue and white Israeli flag in his post.<\/p>\n

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My thoughts and prayers go out to the people of Israel following the despicable acts of terror brought upon them over the weekend, and my heart goes out to all those who have so cruelly been taken against their will, and their families. Their worry and heartache is simply\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/yFkRIorHjs<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 David Cameron (@David_Cameron) October 9, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Hundreds of thousands of protesters have marched in London in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza over the weekend as a small number of far-right groups staged counterprotests.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak sacked Home Secretary Suella Braverman on Monday after she drew anger for accusing police of being too lenient with pro-Palestinian protesters and making comments described as \u201cinflammatory\u201d.<\/p>\n

He replaced Braverman with Foreign Secretary James Cleverly before announcing Cameron as Cleverly\u2019s surprise replacement.<\/p>\n

Ben Whitham, professor of international relations at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London (SOAS), said that while Cameron was expected to strike \u201ca more conciliatory tone\u201d, he would not be favourable to Palestinians in the conflict.<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly, like any senior Conservative politicians, he is broadly going to side with Israel and its alleged right to carry out the offensive in Gaza,\u201d he told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

Whitham said Cameron\u2019s appointment was also aimed at \u201chealing some of the divisions within the Conservative Party\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is seen as having strong ties to strategic economic partners in the Middle East,\u201d including an ongoing personal relationship with Saudi Arabia\u2019s leadership, Whitman said.<\/p>\n

\u2018Prison camp\u2019<\/h2>\n

During his tenure as prime minister from 2010 to 2016, Cameron criticised Israel\u2019s \u201cillegal\u201d settlements in the occupied West Bank and the blockade of the Gaza Strip. \u201cGaza cannot and must not be allowed to remain a prison camp,\u201d he said on a visit to Turkey in 2010.<\/p>\n

However, as Palestinians in Gaza benefitted from a fleeting ceasefire that temporarily halted one of the deadliest bombardments in the enclave in 2014, his party rejected calls from coalition members to re-examine arms export licenses to Israel should the fighting resume.<\/p>\n

Israeli newspaper Haaretz cited the episode among the reasons why Cameron was the most pro-Israeli British prime minister ever, snatching the honorific title from \u201cardent\u201d supporters like Gordon Brown and Tony Blair and \u201cunabashed admirers of the Zionist endeavour\u201d of the calibre of Margaret Thatcher and Harold Wilson.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn many ways, he sees the Middle East very similarly to Netanyahu,\u201d Haaretz said, referring to current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who also held office from 2009 to 2021. Since last month, Netanyahu has repeatedly refused a ceasefire in Gaza and has promised to wipe Hamas \u201coff the face of the earth\u201d in an aerial and ground offensive that has killed more than 11,200 Palestinians.<\/p>\n

During the 50 days of hostilities lasting from July 8 to August 26, 2014, 2,251 Palestinians were killed. Sayeeda Warsi, a senior minister in Britain\u2019s Foreign Office and Britain\u2019s first Muslim to serve in the cabinet, resigned as the ceasefire collapsed and accused Cameron\u2019s government of taking a \u201cmorally indefensible\u201d approach to the conflict.<\/p>\n

Warsi said at the time that the government\u2019s response to the events in Gaza was one of the factors behind the radicalisation of British Muslims, which could have consequences for years to come, citing early evidence from the Home Office.<\/p>\n

Yet, the member of the House of Lords appeared to have buried the hatchet as she welcomed Cameron back on Monday. \u201cIf ever there was a time for balanced, thoughtful, compassionate leadership it is now. Your country needs you,\u201d Warsi said on X.<\/p>\n

According to Whitham, the former prime minister\u2019s personal ties with Saudi Arabia have played a decisive role in his political reinstatement. Cameron was among a handful of leaders, including former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and former US presidential senior adviser Jared Kushner, to travel to Saudi Arabia in 2019 for the \u201cDavos in the Desert\u201d summit.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have [a pillar] in British foreign policy in the Middle East that is becoming more important in the post-Brexit context, which is \u2026 that these foreign strategic allies outside of Europe, like Saudi Arabia, are really important,\u201d Whitham said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaintaining good relations with these partners comes above everything else,\u201d he added. \u201cAnd Cameron is seen very much as a continuity candidate in this respect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Military involvement in the Middle East<\/h2>\n

Cameron has been a supporter of using Britain\u2019s \u201cmilitary prowess\u201d to defeat groups regarded as \u201cterrorists\u201d in the Middle East. In 2014, as ISIL (ISIS) sought to establish a \u201ccaliphate\u201d in Iraq and Syria, he warned that the West faced having an \u201cextremist\u201d state on the borders of the Mediterranean if ISIL succeeded in its goals.<\/p>\n

His government agreed to extend air strikes into Syria from Iraq, where he voted in favour of an invasion when it was put to the British Parliament in March 2003.<\/p>\n

\u201cProbably the most controversial foreign policy decisions during Cameron\u2019s time as prime minister was the decision to use extrajudicial killings in Syria, which inaugurated a programme of drone strikes that continues to this day,\u201d Whitham said.<\/p>\n

Since his resignation in 2016 after his unsuccessful bid for Britain to remain in the European Union, Cameron\u2019s Middle East policy has been reviewed and found to have had a lasting impact for the region.<\/p>\n

In 2011 when Britain and France intervened in Libya, Cameron\u2019s government said the operation was aimed at protecting civilians under fire from longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi. But the Foreign Affairs Committee later analysed the decision and found it had relied on flawed intelligence and hastened the North African country\u2019s political and economic collapse.<\/p>\n

The parliamentary report concluded that Cameron had a \u201cdecisive\u201d role in the decision to intervene and must bear the responsibility for Britain\u2019s role in the crisis in Libya.<\/p>\n

Much like former US President Barack Obama, Cameron opened the path to the use of lethal force in parts of the Middle East, Whitham said. \u201cCameron has demonstrated that he\u2019s quite keen on military intervention in the region,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t want to speculate on whether he will join the chorus of pro-Israel voices and potentially frame Hamas as an extension of ISIS. That will be down to the line Sunak takes and Cameron will have to toe that line.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n