Online petition urges Singapore to recognize Palestine, blames Israel, silent on Hamas

People are being asked to sign an online petition in Singapore requesting the Government to recognize the State of Palestine. Two former ruling party lawmakers and five former members of parliament have already signed the petition along with a group of eminent people, including academics, authors and actors.

The appeal was launched by Lepak Conversations, which describes itself as a “research and advocacy platform” making “dialogue on Malay/Muslim issues accessible” and “fostering racial harmony in Singapore”.

Lepak Conversations sent its letter of appeal, dated October 8, to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dr Vivian Balakrishan.

Who’s signed the letter?

The letter had 64 signatories, including two former ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) members of parliament — Zainal Sapari and Dr Intan Azura Mokhtar — and five former Nominated Members of Parliament: Dr Kanwaljit Soin, Anthea Ong, Braema Mathi, Dr Geh Min, and Kok Heng Leun.

After receiving no reply from the minister, Lepak Conversations turned to the people, reported Wake Up Singapore.

On October 23, Lepak Conversations launched an online petition on Change.org, which has already been signed by more than 6,000 people.

The online petition is accompanied by the letter to the minister and the names of the signatories.

The letter asks the Government to recognize Palestine, pointing out it said so in July.

The letter says: “We were encouraged by the Singapore government’s July 2, 2024, announcement, stating that it is prepared in principle to recognise the State of Palestine at an appropriate time, as part of the wider goal of advancing peace in the Middle East. This position reflects Singapore’s thoughtful approach to diplomacy and signals a readiness to support the global efforts toward a just resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

However, the letter does not mention the conditions under which Singapore is prepared to recognize Palestine.

What the minister said

“Singapore is ‘prepared in principle’ to recognize Palestine as a sovereign state if it has an effective government that renounces terrorism and accepts Israel’s right to exist, Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan said in Parliament,” Channel NewsAsia reported on July 2.

The minister was replying to questions from the PAP MPs Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim and Mariam Jaafar, the opposition Workers’ Party MPs Gerald Giam and Muhamad Faisal Manap, and the Non-constituency MP Leong Mun Wai of the opposition Progress Singapore Party.

The minister said that, in the United Nations General Assembly in May, Singapore voted in favour of a resolution expressing support for Palestinian membership in the United Nations.

Singapore will also continue to tap the S$10 million (US$7.4 million) Enhanced Technical Assistance Package to help the Palestinian Authority prepare for eventual statehood, he added.

More than 750 officials have already been trained in areas like diplomacy, water management and economic development, he noted.

But Singapore will not engage in performative gestures, the minister said.

Singapore is a friend to both Palestine and Israel and hopes to encourage both to resume direct negotiations towards a two-state solution, he added.

What the letter says

However, Singapore can’t keep “waiting for Israel to return to the negotiation table with Palestine”, argues the Leak Conversations letter. It points out: “There has (sic) .been no talks held between Israel and Palestine on the latter’s statehood since 2014, after Israel refused to accept a state encompassing all of the Palestinian territory it illegally occupied.”

The International Court of Justice on July 19 ruled “Israel’s occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as unlawful,” says the letter.

“Over 140 nations have already recognised Palestine. By doing the same, Singapore would align itself with the global majority,” it adds

In short, the letter asks the Singapore government to recognize Palestine like several other countries moved by Palestinian suffering since the Gaza war began in October last year.

While several Muslim and former communist or East bloc countries recognized Palestine when the Palestine Liberation Organisation declared statehood in 1988, three Western nations did so in a coordinated move in May this year: Ireland, Norway and Spain.

The Irish government said it recognised “Palestine as a sovereign and independent state and agreed to establish full diplomatic relations between Dublin and Ramallah”. Ramallah is the administrative capital of the State of Palestine in the West Bank.

The Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Simon Harris urged his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, to “stop the humanitarian catastrophe we are seeing in Gaza”, reported the BBC.

The Lepak Conversations letter also refers to the “ongoing suffering of the Palestinian people as a result of the occupation” and speaks of “plausible genocide happening in Gaza…”

Not a word about Hamas?

However, the letter does not mention that the Gaza war started when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7 last year, killing more than a thousand people, leading to the Israeli retaliation, which killed more than 34,000 Gazans by April this year, according to Wikipedia.

The letter also skirts another ground reality.

While the State of Palestine nominally encompasses all the Israeli-occupied territories — Gaza, West Bank and East Jerusalem — there are deep divisions on the ground. Hamas has governed the Gaza Strip since it took over the region from the rival Fatah party in 2007. The Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority, which has used the name “State of Palestine” on official documents, exercises limited authority over Palestinian enclaves in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Hamas is fighting the Gaza war, not the Palestinian Authority.

The State of Palestine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates’ website has condemned “Israel’s massacres, carnage and onslaught” and called for the protection of Palestinians, but Hamas has also come in for occasional criticism.

Fatah slammed Hamas on March 15, demanding, “Did Hamas consult the Palestinian leadership or any Palestinian national party when it made its decision to carry out the ‘adventure’ of last October 7, which led to a catastrophe?” reported the Jerusalem Post.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, while condemning Israel and the United States for the Gaza war, also assigned some of the blame to Hamas.

“The presidency sees that by escaping national unity, and providing free pretexts to the occupation state, the Hamas movement is a partner in bearing legal, moral and political responsibility for the continuation of the Israeli war of genocide in Gaza Strip,” he said in a statement, reported Reuters on July 14.

Unlike the Palestinian president, the Lepak Conversations letter has not a word of criticism against Hamas.