Division over whether to welcome Palestinian refugees in the UK follows party lines and reflects the public's sympathy towards either Israel or Palestinian civilians.
ADVERTISEMENTBritish people are split over whether the UK should welcome in refugees fleeing the war in Gaza, even as the situation for millions of Palestinian civilians becomes ever more uncertain as Israel rolls out its ground offensive.
According to new research by YouGov, 31% of Britons think that their country has a moral obligation to take in Palestinian refugees escaping Gaza, while 45% said that the UK has no such duty and 24% admitted they didn’t know how to feel about it.
In a similar way, British people were divided in their opinion of how the UK government is acting in regards to helping Palestinian refugees, with 13% saying it’s doing too much, 25% saying it’s not doing enough, 24% saying it’s doing about the right amount of effort and 38% saying they didn’t know.
Some 39% of respondents said they either strongly support (12%) or tend to support (27%) the introduction of a scheme to resettle in the UK some Palestinian refugees fleeing the Israel-Hamas war. Another 38% either tended to oppose (17%) such an initiative or strongly opposed it (21%). Some 23% didn’t know.
The conflict itself has proven divisive in the UK, with 19% saying their sympathies lie with Israel, 17% with the Palestinians, and 32% saying they support both sides equally.
A majority of those supporting a scheme to welcome Palestinian refugees in the UK said they sided with Palestinians in the conflict. This division also follows party lines, with 57% of Labour voters supporting the initiative compared to only 24% of Conservatives.
When asked about just how many refugees the country should accept, 27% - the highest percentage - said a few thousand, while 17% said a few tens of thousands.
There’s a significant movement in the country in support of Palestinian civilians.
Thousands of people joined pro-Palestinian protests in London in the past two weeks, voicing their solidarity with civilians living in the Gaza Strip and calling for a stop to Israeli bombardments.