Independent MP Shockat Adam has just been on a fact-finding visit to occupied Palestine. And in a press conference on 23 April, he highlighted the Israel-induced worsening humanitarian crisis in the occupied West Bank that has “been neglected” amid Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.
Shockat Adam: “hurtling toward a humanitarian catastrophe on a scale akin to Gaza”
Away from Gaza, where “civilians, children, journalists, and aid workers are being slaughtered mercilessly”, Shockat Adam described the daily oppression that Palestinian people suffer via random closures, settler violence, religious intimidation, and systemic dehumanisation. As he explained:
In this visit, I witnessed firsthand the relentless humiliation, the slow suffocation of fundamental rights, and the erosion of hope. What I saw confirmed what many fear—that without urgent intervention, the Occupied Territories are hurtling toward a humanitarian catastrophe on a scale akin to Gaza. And when that moment comes, the consequences will be devastating, indiscriminate, disproportionate, and far-reaching.
The MP urged the international community to act by placing “targeted economic, military, and diplomatic sanctions” on Israel “until international law is respected”, stressing that:
a future where Palestinians are free, equal, and dignified is not a threat to Israel’s security—it is the only path to lasting security for both peoples.
The West Bank is also a prison
Shockat Adam asserted:
Gaza is often called the world’s largest open-air prison. But in the West Bank, too, Palestinians are imprisoned by walls, gates, and checkpoints. I saw entire towns—some with populations over 40,000—gated off without notice. These closures are random and unannounced. There is no appeal.
He added:
These gates, alongside the apartheid walls and endless checkpoints, give Israeli authorities complete control over Palestinian movement.
Some of the prison guards, meanwhile, are illegal Israeli settlers.
We also witnessed the disturbing reality of armed settlers illegally occupying Palestinian land with complete police protection. One day, we encountered settlers allowing their livestock to graze on Palestinian farmland at gunpoint.
As Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem has outlined, soldiers and settlers are simply two arms of the same colonial project. And Adam captured the essence of that by saying:
In Hebron, settlers stood outside a Palestinian home and told its owner, with chilling conviction, that they would be taking it, claiming it as a “God-given right.” They then hurled abuse at Arabs and the Prophet Muhammad, while Israeli soldiers stood guard on rooftops nearby.
Jerusalem posturing by settler-colonial thugs
In occupied Jerusalem, Shockat Adam explained:
At the Al Aqsa compound, we witnessed armed Israeli settlers walking freely within the sacred site, accompanied by heavily armed soldiers. Their presence was not one of curiosity or tourism or even worship, but provocation. At Lions’ Gate, one of the key entrances to the compound, settlers were dancing and singing nationalistic songs—songs that spoke of rebuilding the Solomon Temple on the site where Al Aqsa, the third-holiest site in Islam, stands.
He called this:
an assertion of dominance, a deliberate act of intimidation, carried out under the protection of state security forces.
He added that:
I, as a Muslim, was personally denied access to the Wailing Wall, not for any security reason, but simply because of my faith.
And he spoke of the barring of Christian Palestinians “from entering their holy sites during Good Friday observances” too.
Israel’s actions: “a stain on our collective conscience”
In Tel Aviv, meanwhile, Shockat Adam said:
One of the most disturbing conversations I had was with an Arab-Israeli official tasked with teaching empathy for Palestinians in Israeli schools. He told us Israeli children couldn’t comprehend that Palestinian children had dreams like theirs. “But” they said, “Baby Mohammed grows up to be Big Mohammed. And Big Mohammed hates Israelis. So, we must hate Baby Mohammed.”
By calling for Britain and other countries to uphold international law, sanction Israel, and “support the Palestinian right to self-determination”, Adam insisted:
this is not about taking sides between Israelis and Palestinians. This is about standing on the side of humanity. On the side of justice. On the side of peace.
And he argued that:
What is happening is not just a Palestinian tragedy. It is a stain on our collective conscience. If left unaddressed, it will have consequences for the region and the world.
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