The Prime Minister must call for a proper negotiated settlement in the Israel-Palestine conflict - Andy Brown

There was no sign of it whatsoever when Hamas ordered a vicious attack on people living in Kibbutz villages and deliberately targeted young people for the crime of attending a pop concert.

Then there was precious little of it in evidence as over a million people were ordered to leave the north of Gaza at point of death. Only to find themselves being ordered to move from much of the south as well.

Street after street of housing has been flattened along with anyone sheltering there. We are being told these are carefully targeted attacks on tunnels and bunkers. The pictures look a lot more like carpet bombing.

For a brief moment we glimpsed the possibility of a more hopeful future as hostages and young prisoners were exchanged. But there isn’t much that is humanitarian when a pause is followed by forcing people to flee with even more deadly intent.

Whatever has been done in the past to Palestinian people it doesn’t justify the use of terrorism by Hamas. Nor do the crimes of Hamas justify terrorising an entire population.

I don’t know what the definition of terrorism is but there can be nothing more terrifying for a parent than to have to pick the body of your child out of the ruins of your home. Over a million people are scared that this will happen to them. They don’t know where they are going to sleep, what they are going to eat and how they are going to even give a drink of water to their children.

It is naïve to think that continuing such brutal treatment of an entire population could lead to it becoming more peacefully inclined towards its neighbours. The problem with trying to secure peace and freedom entirely by military might is that you make a lot of fresh enemies who will stop at nothing.

The people of Israel have the right to live in peace and freedom secure in their lives and property. So do the people of Palestine.

The violence can’t be made to stop by crushing one side so completely that they are never again capable of taking up arms. Unless the intent is to physically wipe out an entire population.

The innocent children of this conflict become the terrorists of tomorrow. The moment civilians are allowed to start rebuilding their lives in Gaza some of them will be focusing all their energies on seeking opportunities for revenge.

It is also naïve to think that it is possible to push over a million people off their land without nearby states taking action. No country makes itself safe by increasing the number of its enemies. The risk of triggering an escalation into a wider Middle East conflict either now or at some later date is very real.

The risks aren’t restricted to the people who are immediately involved. Terrorism has a nasty habit of spreading across borders and killing innocent people in Britain. War disrupts supplies of oil and gas and tends to drive up the cost of living.

It isn’t just morally wrong to stand idly by and watch as things escalate. It is a very risky thing to do. Sooner or later a proper long term solution has to be struck that guarantees security for Israel and puts an end to state supported theft of Palestinian land. Sooner would be better.

The United Nations keeps calling for a permanent ceasefire, a complete release of all the hostages and a two state solution.

If anyone has another more workable solution that doesn’t involve ethnic cleansing then they are keeping it very quiet.

When participants in a conflict won’t come to the table and negotiate it becomes necessary for serious pressure to be placed on both sides to do so.

Instead of doing that the British government chose to abstain on a United Nations motion calling for a cease fire and received precious little criticism from the official opposition for doing so. We are still supplying arms to Israel.

Sometimes the season of good will needs a helping hand. It is time for the British Prime Minister to withdraw his message to the Israeli government that we want it to win and start sending it the message that there must be a proper negotiated settlement that respects the rights of all people.

Support for Hamas has proved to be a dead end for Palestinian people. Support for Benjamin Netanyahu is ultimately a dead end for the people of Israel. The only realistic way to achieve long term security for the peoples of this troubled region is to give peace a chance.

Andy Brown is the Green Party councillor for Aire Valley in North Yorkshire.