ANAS Sarwar has urged the UK Government to look into bringing in a family reunion scheme to enable Palestinians in Gaza to reunite with their loved ones in the UK.
The Gaza Families Reunited campaign has long called on the UK Government to create a scheme, building on the Ukraine Family Scheme, to provide temporary sanctuary to Palestinians until it is safe to return to Gaza.
The current system allows only for partners and children under 18 to join family in the UK – thus excluding close relative including parents, siblings and their children.
READ MORE: Two Palestinians died waiting for Home Office to waive ‘cruel’ fingerprint rules
A petition run by the campaign – and publicly supported by The National – reached the 100,000 signature threshold to secure a Westminster debate in May.
MPs – including from the Labour Party – unanimously backed the scheme during the debate. The Scottish Government also pushed for the scheme, including then first minister Humza Yousaf.
But the then Tory government refused, instead saying it was “under review”.
So far, under the new Labour Government, this position hasn’t changed – with a spokesperson telling The National this week that the Government is still “keeping all existing pathways under review”.
But now, Sarwar – the Scottish Labour leader – has urged the Home Office and Keir Starmer (below) to take action.
“Every possible effort must be made to help those in Gaza, including Palestinians with family in Britain,” he told The National.
“I encourage the UK Government to look at family reunion for Palestinians with family in Britain, including adaptations or alternatives to the current biometric requirement.”
The current path for Palestinians in Gaza to obtain a UK visa is far from simple.
Amid the devastation and risk of death – more than 41,534 have been killed so far by Israel according to the health ministry – there is also no functioning visa centre.
Meanwhile, the Home Office has repeatedly refused to waive fingerprint rules meaning that many resort, if possible, to making the dangerous and expensive journey over the border to Egypt to the closest UK visa centre in Cairo – still with no guarantee of obtaining a UK visa.
The Sunday National previously spoke with Palestinian-Scots including Doaa – who has lived in Glasgow for five years with her husband and daughter.
She described the horror of watching events unfold in Gaza as her entire family – from her mother and her siblings to the whole extended family – were trapped.
Many Palestinians in the UK have resorted to launching fundraising campaigns to obtain the necessary funds to pay smuggling companies at the border to Egypt.
READ MORE: Emma Roddick calls on UK Government to back Gaza family visa scheme
But Doaa told The National that she decided not to as her family “deserves protection and respect”.
“We pay tax, we are contributing to this country. And we deserve for our families to be protected in a similar way to the Ukrainian scheme,” she said.
The Gaza Families Reunited Campaign welcomed Sarwar’s comments and backing.
A spokesperson said: "Introducing a Gaza Family Scheme to enable Palestinians to reunite with their loved ones in the UK has never been more urgent.
“When it was in opposition, the Labour Party sought to hold the old government to account over the challenges Palestinian families face in seeking to reunite in the UK. Now that it is in power, it must take decisive action to act on those principles and ensure families are able to be reunited in temporary sanctuary in the UK until it is safe to return to Gaza."
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel