Asked by Lord Harries of Pentregarth To ask His Majesty’s
Government what steps they are taking, with international partners,
to calm the violence and build a lasting peace between the
government of Israel and the Palestinian people. Lord Harries of
Pentregarth (CB) My Lords, in 1962 I had the great privilege of
spending a term studying in Jerusalem. Signs of conflict were
everywhere; there was barbed wire across the streets and pockmarks
in the walls made by...Request free
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Asked by
To ask His Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking, with
international partners, to calm the violence and build a lasting
peace between the government of Israel and the Palestinian
people.
(CB)
My Lords, in 1962 I had the great privilege of spending a term
studying in Jerusalem. Signs of conflict were everywhere; there
was barbed wire across the streets and pockmarks in the walls
made by bullets from recent fighting. The time was tense and
difficult. But now, more than 60 years later, the situation is
even worse—the tension greater, the violence more bitter. Some of
us will remember that the two great political issues in 1962 were
the Cold War and apartheid. We could see no end to the Cold War,
but in 1989 the Berlin Wall was torn down. We did not expect
apartheid to come to an end without massive bloodshed, but in
1994 Nelson Mandela was elected peacefully president of South
Africa. Is it not a terrible indictment of leadership on all
sides and the whole international community that still nothing
very much has happened, and that the situation is in fact much
worse now than it was in 1962? The hopes of Oslo in 1993 and the
hopes of so many since then have come to absolutely nothing.
It is understandable that the eyes of the world have been
elsewhere this year—on Ukraine, the women of Afghanistan and
Iran, and the earthquakes in Syria and Turkey—but during this
time tension in Israel has risen and violence has increased. In
January, a Palestinian boy throwing stones in the West Bank was
killed. Then in a raid by security forces, nine Palestinians were
killed in Jenin. On the same day, a 13 year-old boy shot seven
Israelis outside a synagogue in east Jerusalem. The following
day, rockets were fired by Hamas from the Gaza Strip and there
was a further exchange of fire. A few days later, there was a
major raid in Nablus, in which 10 Palestinians were killed and
more than 100 injured. A few days after that, a Palestinian
killed two Israeli settlers. This was followed by settlers
running amok, torching homes and cars, with the IDF apparently
unwilling or unable to stop it. Once again, families are left
bereaved, young Palestinians are left even more desperate, and
more Israeli peace-lovers are left in despair at the present
Government.
After that outbreak of violence, Israeli and Palestinian
delegates made a joint commitment to take immediate steps to end
it. This followed talks in Aqaba between the parties, alongside
the United States and Egyptian officials. The announcement said
that Palestinian and Israeli sides
“affirmed their commitment to all previous agreements between
them, and to work towards just and lasting peace”.
Both sides also committed to immediately working to end
unilateral measures for a period of three to six months, which
included an Israeli commitment to stop discussion of any new
settlement units for four months and to stop the authorisation of
any outposts for six months. The parties agreed to reconvene in
Egypt in March this year—this month—to determine progress made
towards these goals. However, this statement was immediately
called into question by some members of the Israeli Government,
including Mr Netanyahu himself, who denied that there would be a
settlement freeze or any kind of pause.
My first question for the Minister is: what role are our own
Government playing in this process? Is he in a position to
clarify what has been agreed and what progress, if any, has been
made with a view to the reconvened meeting later this month?
The reason I asked for this debate is not just the recent level
of violence, severe though it has been, but because there will
continue to be violence unless there is hope. At the moment,
there is no hope. Where is the hope in the situation? What sign
of hope can be given to young Palestinians, or to those Israelis
who have lost their family or friends and who have sincerely
wanted and worked for a solution? Studies of those who survived
harsh imprisonment during World War Two showed that the people
most likely to survive were those who had something to live
for—for example, a hope of seeing a loved one again. Without
hope, people become desperate. Since Oslo in 1993, the hope has
been held out of a two-state solution. Recently, our Government
have once again committed themselves to that solution, as have
various other international bodies, the UN and the EU. However,
at the same time, I have read—as I am sure your Lordships
have—commentators saying that the two-state solution is dead and
that nothing will now revive the peace process. Is it really
dead? If it is, what hope can be given?
The idea of a single state, once dismissed by most people, has
surfaced again. Is this a serious idea—a single state with
equality for all its citizens? In a recent article, Jonathan
Freedland, while not arguing for this, nevertheless pointed out
that overall turnout in the November election topped 70% but
among Israeli Arabs it was just 53.2%. He argued that if Arabs
had voted in the same numbers as Jews, Netanyahu would not be
Prime Minister. He suggested that to remedy this will
require,
“first, a wholesale change in mindset on the part of the
mainstream Israeli left, one that at last listens to Palestinian
demands for equality inside the green line and an end to
occupation beyond it. That could, in turn, prompt a sea change
among Palestinian-Israelis, a recognition that a de facto boycott
of Israel’s political institutions might have made sense when a
separate Palestinian state seemed on the horizon, but makes no
sense now. It only strengthens those bent on making their lives
worse.”
I am, of course, aware of the arguments on this issue, but I will
not enter into them now. My point is about the total lack of hope
in anything at the moment. I believe it would be quite wrong
simply for the international community to shrug its shoulders and
assume that nothing can be done. While the recent meeting in
Jordan to see what might be done in the immediate term to reduce
the level of violence is to be welcomed, it is not enough.
I recently asked a friend living in Jerusalem if he could find
any hope in the present situation. He wrote that he looked to the
individuals committed to peace and reconciliation, “the mother of
an Israeli soldier killed at a checkpoint in the Second Intifada
joining a group of bereaved from both sides of conflict and
becoming best friends with a Palestinian man whose daughter was
killed at a checkpoint by an Israeli soldier, or the man at the
Tent of Nations who is in the longest-running legal dispute to
keep the family olive farm despite beatings, intimidation and
Kafkaesque legal dealings”. His mantra was: “We refuse to be
enemies”. These are people who belong to the Parents
Circle-Families Forum—PCFF—a body that I have long admired. This
group is made up of parents, Jewish and Palestinian, who have all
lost family members in the conflict. However, apparently even the
PCFF is being threatened with tough new restrictions on its
activities by Israel’s recently elected coalition Government.
They are planning to curtail the organisation’s access to high
schools where, for years, bereaved Israeli and Palestinian
families have been allowed to meet groups of teenagers before
they are called up for any service. If this is the case, I hope
that our own Government will vigorously protest.
So, in the name of those Israeli and Palestinian parents, we
cannot allow the present situation to continue fluctuating
between simmering violence and its inevitable explosion forever.
Meanwhile, as we are all aware, we have to face the fact that, as
settlements continue to grow in number and size, the viability of
a Palestinian state gets more and more called into question; the
Palestinian position, already weak, becomes even weaker; and
young people on both sides become even more desperate.
Let us have some honesty in the international community. Is the
two-state solution dead? If not, let us have some real
initiatives for reviving it. In 1978, that good man President
Carter, who is now in his last days in a hospice, called together
Prime Minister Begin and President Sadat to agree a framework for
peace in the Middle East. Where is the Jimmy Carter for our time?
We cannot simply shrug and resign ourselves to the fact that this
will go on forever. A new initiative is needed. I beg to
move.
19:41:00
(Con)
My Lords, let me be the first to congratulate the noble and right
reverend Lord, , on the
well-worded title of this debate and on his opening remarks. He
is a most distinguished cleric, and it is very fitting that a
cleric should choose to put a plea for peace in the title. He
will be aware that one of the core prayers we recite in the
Jewish religion, which some people recite three times a day, has
the words:
“He who makes peace in his high places, may he make peace upon us
and upon all Israel”.
Peace is the most sought after of all man’s objectives in our
prayers. So I am grateful to him for moving this debate.
I am also grateful to the authorities for moving it from
yesterday, when I believe it was originally scheduled to take
place, because yesterday was the Jewish festival of Purim, where,
incidentally, and most unusually, a requirement is to drink a lot
of alcohol. So it would not have been a great day for me to be
standing up in your Lordships’ House. As with many Jewish
festivals, we celebrated the fact that evil people did not
overthrow and kill the local Jewish population, as they sought to
do. We were saved by a clever bit of manoeuvring by Esther, a
Jewess who achieved favour in high places. It is a longer story,
but we will leave it at that.
None the less, Jewish people have always been on the defensive
and, not surprisingly, concerned for their own survival. When I
was in Manchester city centre recently with my youngest daughter,
we passed a demonstration with a red, green, black and white
flag. They were chanting, “From the river to the sea, Palestine
will be free”. My daughter asked me, “What does that mean?” I had
to explain to her that this was a group of people on UK soil
seeking to wipe out the Jewish state of Israel. Israel faces
similar threats now, some organised and promoted by Hamas and
PFLP, and some random, such as the killing last month of the
brothers, Hillel and Yagael Yaniv.
I move the point of the debate. What can be done? I know
Jerusalem best, because I am chairman of the Jerusalem Foundation
in the UK. I will be there next week, running a 10k around the
city, with citizens from every background—Jewish, Muslim,
Christian and no faith—all running together. It is a most
uplifting experience. We are working hard to make Jerusalem a
better place. I am not convinced that the UK Government, or any
Government, can do as much as we would like in the cause of
peace. It is the people, the individuals, who can do so much.
We are working hard to calm tensions there. For example, with
British donors’ money, we are building two large community sports
centres and swimming pools in East Jerusalem. British donors are
paying for a project with the municipality to train new
Arabic-speaking social workers, who will help thousands of Arab
families.
We continue to abhor the fact that at least 31 Palestinian
schools are named after terrorists and, likewise, that an Israeli
Minister seems to call for the wipeout of a Palestinian village.
This was rightly condemned by the head of the IDF and others in
Israel.
Initiatives such as those taken by British donors, as I have
described, can make a difference. In a recent poll conducted by
the Washington Institute in East Jerusalem, half of the
Palestinians asked said that, if they had to make a choice, they
would prefer to become citizens of Israel than of the Palestinian
state. Their recent experience of access to Israel’s healthcare,
social welfare, benefits and jobs is making a difference. We need
to ensure that this direction of travel is continued.
19:46:00
(Lab)
My Lords, I too thank the noble and right reverend Lord, Lord
Harries, for introducing this important debate in such a fair, if
somewhat sobering, way. It is a sobering topic.
Once again, the vicious cycle of violence has rapidly spun out of
control: there have been 550 terrorist attacks, and too many
Israeli and Palestinian deaths, in the last 12 months alone. It
is easy to get involved in the blame game. Heaven knows there is
enough blame to go around—we might hear some tonight. Tit for tat
has taken over. Reconciliation has been replaced by retribution
and revenge after generations of mistrust and antipathy. So is
there anything at all that we in the international community can
do that will influence those on the ground?
As we have heard, Israel agreed to stop all West Bank settlement
activity for six months at the recent meeting of security
officials in Aqaba. Of course, that was immediately derided by
Hamas and right-wingers in the Israeli Government. But that
should not detract from what was a remarkable step for the first
time in many years.
Sadly, I fear that brave speeches by the US and UK ambassadors at
the UN have had little effect on the ground. Of course, we should
not give up, despite the limited response. So where can any
external influence have any effect? The USA has historically had
some influence on Israel. Clearly, we should be supporting that,
and our friends in the Middle East—Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia
and the UAE—who may have been, and one hopes should be, able to
influence the Palestinians. We should influence both sides.
However, we seem to have ignored one resource, which should be
called upon now: the Arab citizens of Israel, who make up over
20% of the population. We have heard a little about them. They
overwhelmingly want to see a two-state solution, according to all
of the polls, but they live uncomfortably between the two sides.
They could form an invaluable link as go-betweens between the
warring parties. Have our Government had any discussions with the
Israeli authorities about encouraging them to engage fully with
their Israeli Arab friends, many of whom occupy high office in
Israeli society?
19:48:00
(LD)
My Lords, having read the extensive coverage in the newspapers
over the weekend, I feel that it is important to point out that
Israel today has the most extreme Government in its history.
Haaretz calls it a “Government of darkness”, as right-wing
politicians from parties that are overtly Jewish supremacist,
anti-Arab, anti-women and homophobic dominate it. I was impressed
by the accounts given in the Guardian on Friday by Simon Schama
and , documenting some of the
things happening under the new Israeli Government. These
extremist Ministers now have major powers over the Occupied
Territories, as authority has been transferred from military to
civilian rule, contravening international law on occupation. I
hope that the Minister will enlighten us with the Government’s
view on that.
A Haaretz editorial also states:
“In light of the fact that there is no intention of granting
civil rights to the millions of Palestinians living in the West
Bank, the result of the agreement is a formal, full-fledged
apartheid regime.”
Some of us from Parliament went on a recent visit—not so recent
now, it was actually in November. I have to say that I was
impressed by those on both sides who were working together for
solutions and peace. For example, there were the heroic doctors
working in the underresourced Palestinian hospital in Jerusalem.
There was the courage of relief and grass-roots support agencies,
many of which are now banned organisations—and many of them
actually Israeli—which were also working for peace. I pay tribute
to all of them for the work that they do and the risks they take
with their own well-being and that of their families. There was
the determination of a family in the Hebron hills living in a
cave, their previous homes having been demolished so many times
that they believed that that was the only way they could remain
living in their current home.
But in spite of this, a massive expansion of settlements is
planned, even though there is increased settler violence, which
we were told has certainly been ignored by the authorities. In
the Observer on Sunday there was an article about an olive
farmer. It was headlined:
“They ransack our village for sport.”
That is one farmer’s story of settler violence. Palestinian homes
have been demolished and when we were there a primary school
funded by foreign aid was demolished to accommodate the settlers’
demands for more land. There is a huge sense of injustice as
families have who lived there for generations are evicted to give
more land to incoming settlers who rampage their villages.
I agree with the noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Harries,
that hope is very much lacking at present, certainly in the
Occupied Territories. I hope that we here can promote action by
our own Government that can work to support change. Humanitarian
support and medical supplies are urgently needed. Funding for the
relief agencies and grass-roots organisations which deliver the
aid and support is also needed. I hope that the example of Simon
Schama and will mean that supporters of
Israel who want to see it prosper will see that what is being
done at the moment is counter to that. The noble Lord, , talked earlier about
the work that goes on in Jerusalem. I know much good work of this
kind that goes on, but it is ruined when we get the provocative
statements and the ambitions, particularly of the Ministers, Gvir
and Smotrich.
As I said, I hope that the Government will lead diplomatic
pressure where violations of human rights and international law
are taking place on both sides and that we can, as the noble and
right reverend Lord, Lord Harries, said, find some leader to
reinitiate the peace process and work for a just and lasting
peace.
19:53:00
(CB)
My Lords, it would be quite wrong if this House simply overlooked
the worsening security situation in Israel and the Occupied
Territories, so my noble and right reverend friend Lord Harries
is to be congratulated on obtaining this debate.
To those like me who have spent a substantial part of their
professional life working for a two-state solution to the
Israel-Palestine dispute and working to give effect to UN
Security Council Resolution 242, which was, of course, drafted
and sponsored by Britain, and its successor resolutions, these
are dispiriting days. There is an Israeli Government who have
turned their back on that solution, a Palestinian Authority which
has no new contribution to make, activists in Gaza whose sole
response to any rise in tension is to fire rockets into Israel,
and a slide, once again, towards violence right across the region
in both Israel and the Occupied Territories.
It is easy to despair, but the hard fact is that there will be no
stability and security in that region on the present basis—no
number of Abraham accords, no amount of crackdowns by Israeli
forces in the Occupied Territories, no expansion of illegal
settlements will bring that security and stability about.
What should Britain with its historic responsibilities for the
state of the region be doing in these unpromising circumstances?
Faced with Israeli intransigence to even talking about a
two-state solution, we should make it clear that we will
legitimise nothing less than that. We should do so by recognising
a Palestinian state. Plenty of others have already done so.
Our policy of endless prevarication over recognition is a
bankrupt one. It was defensible while negotiations were under
way—and I myself defended it for many long years—but no longer
even faintly credible. Will that bring about a solution? Of
course not. But it would show that we will not be a party to any
abdication of responsibility for the present drift toward
tit-for-tat violence and a rejection of international law.
In addition, I hope we really will sustain our humanitarian
support for UNRWA and for the suffering people in the Occupied
Territories and Gaza. Allowing cuts in our aid programme to fall
on them would be both shameful and counterproductive, and I hope
the Minister can give us the latest FCDO commitments on those
programmes which have been so important over the years.
We should engage at every level with the Government of Israel and
with its people to demonstrate that we continue to value their
state and their democracy, however much we may disagree with some
of their present policies. That is no easy path to tread, but it
is still worth while in my view.
19:56:00
(Non-Afl)
My Lords, all these problems in the Middle East are my fault. In
1967, I was a volunteer in the Six Day War, so I started all this
mess. However, in the following decades, I have been trying to
help make peace. At Marks & Spencer, we encouraged Israeli
manufacturers to work with Egyptian, Jordanian and Lebanese
companies and become partners with one another. With the help of
, I got Marks & Spencer,
Sainsbury’s and Tesco to buy homegrown foods and textiles from
the West Bank and Gaza to help them to grow. But those and many
other projects did not create peace either, so I am still to
blame.
I have three questions for the Minister. First, will the UK
Government recognise the state of Palestine? This would then mean
that rather than a recognised state—Israel—trying to negotiate
with a disparate people, the Palestinians of the West Bank and
Gaza, you would have two states negotiating about their borders
and citizenship et cetera, and it would make it more fair and
viable. It could change everything if our country, that issued
the Balfour Declaration and was a mandate authority, would agree
to extend recognition to a Palestinian state.
Secondly, will the UK make good on its commitment as the first
country on earth to endorse the concept of creating an
international fund for Israeli-Palestinian peace, which can
engage a new generation, at scale, in the project of
peacebuilding rather than allowing them to fall into their
current despair and enmity, as the noble and right reverend Lord,
Lord Harries, described?
Thirdly, will the UK signal its strong opposition to any
legislation that taxes, chills or delegitimises the work of
Israeli-Palestinian civil society, which this Israeli Government
are threatening to do? Also, in May at the G7 leaders’ communique
in Japan, let us please push for language that clearly shows to
the governing authorities in the region that civil society is a
“red line” for the international community.
Finally, I suggest that the Minister meets John Lyndon of the
Alliance for Middle East Peace—ALLMEP—who is doing great work in
the field; Gershon Baskin, who has been talking with both sides
for decades, and Tony Klug, who has written many wise briefs on
how to resolve these issues.
I close by mentioning the late Rabbi David Geffen, who died this
weekend and was the founder of Loving Classroom, a project that
is teaching children in Arabic, Hebrew and English in schools
across the world to love, respect and befriend children on all
sides. Can we support this project by adopting Loving Classroom
in all schools in the UK, where it is already making a difference
in several schools?
19:59:00
(Con)
My Lords, I refer the House to my non-financial registered
interest as president of Conservative Friends of Israel. I also
pay tribute to the noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Harries,
for obtaining this debate. I recall the wonderful work he did as
chairman of the Council of Christians and Jews.
I am concerned about comments in a recent letter from the Foreign
Secretary effectively boycotting an Israeli Minister. It is not
about whether one agrees with Minister Ben-Gvir. We work with all
elected Israeli politicians, and we must be very careful not to
go down a route of suggesting that our support for Israel is
somehow conditional on any individual politician.
Could we be holding Israel to a different standard from other
countries? It seems that we are fine working with Prime Minister
Meloni’s extreme right-wing Italian Government and with some
kleptocracies and dictatorships, but working with elected
officials who could be tried and found guilty in democratic
Israel is somehow not fine.
No one wants an escalation of the recent troubles. The
discussions in Aqaba that have been mentioned were important, and
the comments by the Israeli Finance Minister have been
universally condemned, led by Prime Minister Netanyahu and
President Herzog, who stated that the idea of Israeli citizens
taking the law into their own hands, rioting and committing
violence against innocent people, is wrong. It will always be
wrong.
The question posed by the noble and right reverend Lord, Lord
Harries, is about building a lasting peace between the
Palestinian people and the Israeli people. He spoke eloquently,
looking for hope. There is a peace train that has left the
station and is making its way across the region. The Abraham
Accords train has visited Manama in Bahrain. It has travelled
through Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the UAE and meandered through the
hills of Jerusalem in Israel. It has reached Rabat in Morocco,
and the journey has continued to Khartoum in Sudan. It is
possible that the train is making its way to Riyadh in Saudi
Arabia.
I urge my noble friend the Minister to ensure that His Majesty’s
Government will join the Negev Forum for regional co-operation,
as has been suggested by my friend the Foreign Minister of
Bahrain, who I met only last Friday. Can my noble friend tell me
what we are doing to get that train to visit Ramallah? What are
the Government doing to ensure that the Palestinians purchase a
ticket to join this remarkable and exciting initiative? For the
sake of all peoples in the region, and especially for their own
children, the Palestinians must not miss the train and should be
urged to get on board.
20:03:00
(Lab)
My Lords, like others I thank the noble and right reverend Lord,
Lord Harries, for procuring this debate and for the way he
phrased the topic.
Does the Minister agree that the recent upsurge in violence in
Israel and the Palestinian territories is a tragic reminder to us
all of the need for a political process leading to a two-state
solution? A further complicating factor now is the election in
the only real democracy in the region, Israel, of the most
right-wing and nationalist Government in its history.
Does he agree that there are barriers to peace outside the
control of Israel or the Palestinians? First and foremost is
Iran, a state sponsor, supplier and facilitator of terrorism,
from Hezbollah in Lebanon to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad
in the Gaza Strip and cells in the West Bank. I know that my next
question was discussed at the end of the Report debate on the
Bill earlier this evening, but I will ask it again because it is
far too important not to repeat it and repeat it again: when will
the IRGC, the armed wing of Iran’s terrorism, be proscribed in
the United Kingdom?
Given the UK’s deep and historic ties in the Middle East, it is
disappointing that it was not even at the table in 2020 in
negotiations on the normalisation of relations between Israel and
four Arab states. What plans do the Government have, if any, to
support further normalisation between Israel and the Arab world?
Lastly, when will the UK contribute to the international fund for
Israeli-Palestinian peace and follow up its very warm words of
support for the fund with a concrete contribution?
20:05:00
(LD)
My Lords, I also thank the noble and right reverend Lord, Lord
Harries, for this timely debate. For 45 years I have been a
friend of Israel as a homeland for the Jewish people—an
expression I much prefer to “Jewish state”. It is a long story as
to why I first connected with the country. Suffice it to say that
it started by chance, as I am not Jewish and have no family
connection to Israel. I found myself celebrating Purim in a
kibbutz in March 1978. I have just looked it up on Wikipedia; it
was 22 and 23 March 1978.
What attracted me and kept me engaged were the values of the
State of Israel and its right, which I very strongly support, not
only to exist but to exist in security, without its neighbours
and others wishing and trying to wipe it off the map—so I have
ended up as a vice-president of Liberal Democrat Friends of
Israel. There is certainly inequality and discrimination within
Israel against the Arab minority, but it is emphatically not an
apartheid state. Israel is entitled to take military action by
the IDF to defend itself and its citizens from attack and,
although there have been excesses and wrongdoing by the IDF, the
motivation for its action is qualitatively different from the
terrorist attacks on civilians by Palestinian militants and the
glorification of terror, including by the Palestinian
Authority.
I am a friend of Israel but I am no friend of the present Prime
Minister, Mr Netanyahu. I never have been, because I am a liberal
and he is increasingly like Trump, as shown by the attempts to
ram through highly controversial and self-serving changes to the
courts. With an undemocratic and corrupt Palestinian Authority,
both Israelis and Palestinians are very badly served at present.
The present coalition Government Mr Netanyahu leads go way beyond
even the tolerable, containing far-right extremists and racists,
and they are perpetrating or being apologists for some utterly
disgraceful actions and rhetoric about Palestinians and Arab
Israelis. The Liberal Democrat Friends of Israel are appalled at
the violent attacks by settlers on Palestinians in Hawara, and
indeed any settler violence.
Israelis opposed to this far-right Government give me hope about
rescuing the soul of their country, with thousands of protesters
on the street every week. Prominent among them are members of the
Liberal Democrats’ sister party, Yesh Atid, but people from all
sections of Israeli society are taking part.
I first said almost 20 years ago that I believed that illegal
settlements and being an occupying power were poisoning and
politically corrupting Israel, as well as oppressing
Palestinians. My visits to Israel and the West Bank last autumn
confirmed my view, but even recognition of a Palestinian state
does not obviate the need for negotiations. The route to peace
and any hope of two states has to lie partly through economic and
cultural co-operation and engagement, which is why I fervently
oppose any boycott of Israel.
I support the Abraham Accords and was glad to join the call,
which others have mentioned this evening, for the UK Government
to work with partners to create an international fund for peace
for Israelis and Palestinians. The national question between Jews
and Palestinians is still just about solvable. I hope the
Minister can give us hope of a solution.
20:09:00
(CB)
My Lords, my noble and right reverend friend and I shared
experience of the Middle East when we were both board members of
Christian Aid. I am delighted to join him again in this debate
and congratulate him on bringing up once again a very difficult
subject.
I have previously spoken about humanitarian aid in the West Bank
and Gaza, but this time I have chosen music. My wife chairs a
charity that helps young Palestinian musicians, called PalMusic.
Music provides a vital part in keeping hope and joy alive, even
during these adverse conditions—first, by ensuring that the
unique culture of Palestine continues to thrive; secondly, by
giving young people the satisfaction of learning and acquiring
other skills, such as working in teams and showing leadership;
and thirdly, and not least, by bringing happiness to the
community, not only to the young musicians but to others through
their music. I have heard wonderful examples of this music.
This is the 10th anniversary of PalMusic, which was set up to
support the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music in
Ramallah. The conservatory was built around the vision of having
a creative musical culture in every Palestinian home. Highlights
have included a six-week UK tour by the Palestine Youth
Orchestra; a long-distance learning programme for teachers and
students; online concerts throughout the pandemic; and bursaries
for musicians to attend degree courses in the UK. However, the
difficulties of running a music school in an occupied territory
are ever present and growing. For example, Israel has now made it
nearly impossible for Palestinian institutions to secure visas
for visiting teaching staff. The Israeli Government will have to
think again.
We in the UK have a historic responsibility to find a political
solution—and it is not the “peace train” that we have heard about
this evening. We all need to work much harder to support
Palestinian life and to end the oppression of the Palestinian
people.
20:12:00
(Con)
My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Earl, and I too
thank the noble and right reverend Lord, , for securing
this important debate. Regardless of one’s perspective on the
causes of this seemingly endless conflict, I find it impossible
not to agree with the noble and right reverend Lord and the noble
Lord, Lord Hannay, that the current spiral of destruction is
enough to make anyone who longs for peace in that region despair.
For those who value every human life and, like the noble
Baroness, Lady Ludford, are also committed to defending the
integrity and security of Israel, the tragedy is compounded by
growing anxiety—as others have said—that the extremism of a
disproportionately powerful element in the new Government is both
destabilising and potentially self-destructive of the Israeli
dream.
Earlier today, I googled one word: “Israel”. What came up filled
me with dismay: “Israel’s elite fighter pilots escalate judicial
reform protest”; “Huwara attacked by settlers during Purim”;
“Israeli attack wounds citizens as settlers and soldiers dance”.
I am commenting not on the individual stories but on the
direction of travel. It is the wrong direction—wrong for Israel
and wrong for the world. At a time when Iran poses an existential
threat to its very existence and, indeed, to world peace, we need
Israel as never before to be united and strong, not weakened by
extremism, whether on settlements or so-called “reforms” to the
judiciary. I hope that my noble friend the Minister can help
Israel to understand that it is too important a partner to be
consumed by internal strife when its strategic leadership is so
needed.
20:15:00
Forest (Lab)
My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, , once again and I
congratulate the noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Harries, on
securing this debate at a very important time. When I heard his
reflections on 1962, I thought, “Is it really 30 years since I
was not just at university with the noble Lord, , attending lectures by the
noble Lord, Lord Norton, but since I took my first trip to
Israel?”
You could say that I travelled there when the state was at the
apex of hope. We visited just as the Oslo Accords were becoming
public, and I saw as a very young student what leadership and
statecraft could do. They nearly found peace with a two-state
solution. Thirty years later, when we see escalating violence, 14
fatal attacks, increasing violent rhetoric, and both sides
escalating the threat of more violence, perhaps we are now, as
the noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Harries, suggested, at
the nadir of hope for Israel.
Almost every attack is obviously a personal tragedy for the
families who have lost loved ones or have seen loved ones
injured. They also represent a national tragedy for the State of
Israel. I think it was the noble Lord, , who alluded to this. It is a
tragedy because, amidst the violence, Israel is potentially
entering the most exciting stage in its history. Perhaps that is
where we can try to find hope. As a new generation of Arab
leaders no longer regards Israel as an enemy, and as those Arab
leaders seek partnership and co-operation and mutual support in
the economic growth of the region, surely it is the role of
leadership and statecraft to nurture that kind of behaviour.
The Abraham Accords, as noble Lords have said, are in their
infancy. They are fragile and delicate. That is why the
escalating violence is such a threat. Of course Israel is right
to stand up to domestic terrorism; every state has to protect its
people. Ultimately, however, as a friend of Israel, when I look
around and see friends demonstrating for peace—not just in Israel
but around the world—we know that statecraft and leadership are
the only way we are going to find peace. Does the Minister still
believe in a two-state solution? What statecraft and leadership
will he show to try to encourage our friends in Israel and
Palestine to de-escalate the violence?
20:18:00
of Childs Hill (LD)
My Lords, I too thank the noble and right reverend Lord, Lord
Harries, for getting this debate on to the Order Paper and, in
particular, for listing the horrific incidents, on both sides,
which set the whole debate in context. I must declare my interest
as President of the Liberal Democrat Friends of Israel. I do not
need to say that it is unpaid, because obviously it is.
Yesterday, as has been said, was the Jewish festival of Purim,
just out by an hour or so today. This is the story of a Hebrew
woman in Persia—Esther—who thwarts the genocide of her people. It
is stories like this and, more recently, the 800,000 Jews who
fled Arab lands, and the horrors of the Holocaust, which are part
of the Israel psyche today of “never again”.
Having said that, I want to make it clear that I am, like many
Israelis, appalled at the violent attacks by settlers on
Palestinians in Hawara. These actions go against Jewish
values—and I speak as a Jew—teachings and the founding principles
of the State of Israel. It is not all one-sided. There have been
significant Israeli casualties of Palestinian terrorism in 2022
and 2023, including the two young Israeli men, referred to by
earlier speakers, murdered just before the Hawara riots. Sadly,
violence begets violence. The violence has to cease.
The UK Government must make it clear to the Palestinian Authority
and the current Israeli Government that we expect an urgent
de-escalation, which requires the PA and the Israeli Government
to take strong action against any perpetrators of violence. The
UK, through the Minister, should offer itself as an unbiased
interlocutor for the peace talks. We are still the unbiased
interlocutor, which the US is no longer. We should support the
establishment of an international fund for peace, as outlined by
the Alliance for Middle East Peace, mentioned by the noble Lord,
Lord Stone.
We must not lose sight of the fact that Israel is a democratic
state, for Jew and non- Jew, where there is a free media and
plenty—plenty—of internal critics who are against the current
Government. Democracy does not always present a desirable
outcome, but it does mean that the Government can and should take
account of internal criticism, unlike the situation in the West
Bank. The President of the Palestinian Authority has not faced an
election for many, many years. My feeling, and the feeling in
Israel and in the territories, is that President Abbas does not
have support on the Palestinian street. If he does not, I have a
question for the Minister and the Government. I personally am in
favour of the creation of a Palestinian state, but will the
Minister say how, in practical terms, the Government could see
that happening when one side does not have the support of its
people?
My noble friend Lady Janke gave the example of Haaretz, an
Israeli newspaper. The important thing to me is that, in Israel,
you can have a paper criticising the Government.
The noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Harries, called for hope
and for a two-state solution. I join him in that wish.
20:23:00
(Con)
My Lords, I thank the noble and right reverend Lord, Lord
Harries, for bringing this important debate before your
Lordships’ House. I refer to my entry in the register of
interests as I recently joined a field trip with Medical Aid for
Palestinians in the West Bank during the February Recess, and to
previous entries where I joined similar trips with Conservative
Friends of Israel.
In the two minutes that I was originally allowed, I wanted to
focus very much on our responsibility as an honest, and sometimes
critical, friend to Israel. That is not in any way to distance
myself from the remarks that the noble Lord, of Childs Hill, has just made
about the failures of the Palestinian Authority, which I endorse.
I am a friend of Israel who wants the UK to continue its strong
relations with that country, and who absolutely supports its
right to exist and its continuing security. As we have already
heard, we must never forget the memory within Israel of the
obsession of some with removing it from the map.
I have often spoken in those terms in this House before, and my
shared Scottish kinship with Lord Balfour makes me reflect very
much on the creation of the Israeli state. However, as a friendly
nation and ally, it is incumbent upon us, not least because of
our historical responsibility, to use our influence to ensure
that the Israel that we support is upholding its international
obligations, and it is those on which I wish to dwell today.
We must support any talks and communication that try to stop the
spiralling acts of violence that we have already seen this year
and the rising tension within Israel and the Occupied
Territories. However, I ask the Minister that we continue to
raise in our discussions with Israel—as part of our commitment to
international law, to Articles 55, 56 and 59 of the Geneva
convention and to the Oslo accords—our opposition to the building
of illegal settlements; our commitment to ensuring that the
Palestinian people in areas B and C of the Occupied Territories
have full access to education and health services; importantly,
that we follow international law; and, as we witnessed did not
happen in Huwara, that the IDF is fully empowered, and has the
responsibility, to protect all civilians from violent attack or
disruption.
It is important as well that we question and seek legal advice as
a Government on the recent transfer of responsibilities for
settlers from military jurisdiction to Israeli civilian
responsibility. How does that square with our own opposition to
the annexation of the West Bank in terms of responsibility for
those settlements?
To be secure as well as to carry international support, Israel
requires critical friends. Can the Minister confirm that we will
continue to be one such friend?
20:26:00
(Non-Afl)
My Lords, I draw attention to my entry in the register of
interests. I congratulate the noble and right reverend Lord, Lord
Harries, on securing this important debate. While I agree with
much of what he said—as he said, the situation is bleak and
terrible—I am not sure I agree that it is completely hopeless. As
we have heard from the noble Lords, , and Lord Watson, and others,
the Abraham accords are a remarkable achievement and a stunning
breakthrough that would have been impossible to imagine just
before they were announced. They show us that, even in the Middle
East, positive change can happen very quickly and we must never
give up hope. However bleak things are, the UK’s role must be to
encourage negotiation, because that is the only route to a
two-state solution and a peaceful and viable end to this terrible
conflict.
The protests in Israel, now in their third month with hundreds of
thousands taking part, remind us that Israel is the only country
in the Middle East where not just protests like these but even
the basic traditions of liberal democracy—pluralism, elections,
equality and the rule of law—are even conceivable, let alone the
very foundations and values of the state itself.
We have seen a terrible rise in violence over the last year, with
civilians killed on both sides, starting with four Israeli
civilians killed in Beersheba by a Palestinian supporter of ISIS.
There have now been 13 fatal attacks by Palestinian terrorists,
including seven people killed in a synagogue on Holocaust
Memorial Day, one of them just a child. These attacks are not a
reaction to the election of this new Government; they began under
the previous left/right unity Government, which included for the
first time an Israeli Arab party, and, sadly, as we have seen,
they have continued under today’s very different Government.
We must be clear that there is never any justification for
terrorism. Those responsible are the terrorists themselves. We
should be clear that the deaths of any innocent Palestinian
civilians in Israel’s counterterror operations are terrible and
must be investigated. We must also recognise that there is no
equivalence between indiscriminate terror attacks against
civilians and attempts to arrest the terrorists responsible.
Ultimately, inflammatory rhetoric and appeals to extremes do
nothing to help Palestinians or Israelis; they only entrench
divisions and increase the violence. Instead, we need to see a
resumption of the political process, however difficult that is,
because two states remains the only solution and opinion polls
still show that majorities on both sides support that objective.
However, I do not agree that a Palestinian state can just be
recognised or imposed unilaterally from outside—and it is
counterproductive to suggest that it can be, because it suggests
to Palestinians that there is a route to statehood which does not
involve the hard work of negotiation, compromise and
concessions.
The truth is that a Palestinian state will be achieved only
through dialogue, negotiation and compromise by Israelis and
Palestinians working together. The UK must do all it can to
support that, with closer ties to Israel and Palestine, economic
development, jobs and prosperity for the Palestinians and support
for projects that bring people together on both sides to build
trust and create the conditions for negotiations.
20:30:00
(Con)
My Lords, I wish I could echo the optimism of the noble Lord,
Lord Austin, but sadly I cannot. As we have heard this evening,
instead of a more benign security environment in the Middle East,
the opposite is true. Today’s environment might more accurately
be termed a “new regional disorder”, underwritten by an “arc of
instability” in the Middle East with the growing influence of
Iran.
The landscape against which the Arab-Israeli conflict is viewed
appears increasingly volatile and turbulent, contoured by myriad
examples of violence and escalating conflicts which, over the
past year, are no longer headline news here. No matter their
origin, these conflicts can engulf us all, thanks to the pace of
a rapidly globalising world. This is dangerous because it takes
our eye off the escalation of tension and violence in the region
at a time when it should be a top international priority, not one
in the foreign policy shadows of the Ukraine conflict.
The multiplicity of new and continuing threats at times appears
overwhelming: terrorism, conflict, insurgency. In this bleak and
dystopian world, the liberal order, backed by strong, independent
legal institutions, which are under question in Israel, and the
democratic free-market prescriptions of the Washington consensus,
are being challenged as never before—not least where a right-wing
coalition with ultranationalists is seated in government against
a background of increasing violence and a threat of a further
Palestinian intifada.
While the eyes of the world are elsewhere, it is welcome that
Israel has altered its settlement programme with a temporary
cessation. At the same time, regrettably, more extremists are
moving into Gaza and the West Bank, stoking tensions and trouble
for the future. As the noble and right reverend Lord, Lord
Harries, has indicated—if I can put his sentiments into my
words—the running sore is festering badly and 2023 is likely to
see the contagion erupt again. Against that backcloth, now is the
time to step up our involvement, as many noble Lords have said,
and seek to clear the political debris from the pathways to the
two-state solution which, in my view, is in no way dead. It
cannot die; it is the lifeline to peace.
I have only one question to put to the Minister, which is in the
context of children. What more can the government do to support
the UN’s efforts to help children, who pay the highest price as
the violence escalates? Will he agree to increase our support
both financially and in terms of qualified personnel to help the
impacted children with psychosocial services, starting with the
humanitarian family centres across the Gaza Strip, but
encompassing all children in the region who have been victims of
the horrors of violence?
20:33:00
(LD)
My Lords, I join others to thank the noble and right reverend
Lord, Lord Harries, for bringing this debate and for starting in
such a measured way. It has been an extremely sombre debate but,
as he indicated, we should not see conflict as inevitable.
Therefore, we should not lose hope, even though it seems quite a
long time ago—it was just a number of months—that I watched all
of the address to the UN General Assembly by Yair Lapid, the
former Israeli Prime Minister. There was a degree of hope that
the Prime Minister then would put on the table again a two-state
solution and reopen some of the discussions that this House has
called for. However, as my noble friend indicated, Israel is a
democracy and democracies do not always yield the results that
you want. As the noble Lord, , indicated, some of
the members of that new Administration have extreme views.
Equally, over 60 years ago is a very long time for those who have
been within Palestine, and I noted that less than 3% of the
population of the occupied territory are over 65 years old. There
is no living memory of the period to which the noble Lord
referred. The median age in that area is 19. None of the
population has experienced a democratic election process, so it
means that it is quite hard to see the areas where we can start
to see practical ways forward.
Five years ago, this Chamber debated the recognition of the
occupied Palestinian territories as a state. Since then, the
illegal settlements—“a block to peace”, to quote the noble Lord,
Lord Ahmad—have become worse. Indeed, contrary to commitments
from the Israeli Government to pause and slow down settlements,
there is the recent decision of nearly 7,000 settlement units and
35 settlement areas to be approved imminently. So that pause is
not a pause at all.
If we see this as a block to peace, I would be grateful if the
Minister could say what practical steps the UK Government are
taking to seek the arrest and removal of such blocks, and the
development of road and route infrastructure in the affected
zones. I have seen areas which could make the situation worse. I
would be grateful if the Minister could indicate whether support
for that infrastructure will be part of the trade discussions
that the Secretary of State is currently engaged in during a
visit to Israel at the moment. Is the Secretary of State going to
meet Bezalel Smotrich, the Finance Minister, and is it the case
that the Government will continue not to engage with the National
Security Minister, as has been referred to?
We have to recognise, as did the thread in the speech by the
noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Harries, that a viable state
of Palestine is in many ways harder to see. But it is not
impossible, and a decision may have to be made that we, in
effect, recognise a quasi-failed state at its inception. This is
not new; we have done this with many other countries. But it does
mean that the UK now needs to stop its dramatic cuts for the
support of the people of that area. In 2020, funding was £102
million; in 2023-2024, this has been reduced to £6 million. The
Business Department funding for economic regeneration in the area
has been cut from £25 million to zero. So can the Minister, in
his winding up, explain where UK financial support, which could
make the prospects of a statehood more viable, will be in place?
If the UK plays a role, it must be to make a two-state solution
viable in a practical way, and I hope the Minister will be able
to give some positive responses today.
20:38:00
(Lab)
My Lords, I, too, would like to thank the noble Lord, Lord
Harries, for initiating this debate and for setting the scene,
and highlighting the real difficulties that are being faced. I
thought it was really important that he stressed the need for
hope, because it is not just hope in Palestine and Israel but
hope within this House, which will motivate us to pursue the
efforts for peace. I support the Government’s efforts and those
of the noble Lord, Lord Ahmad, the Minister responsible, who has
been working with our international partners, particularly the
US, to promote peace in the region and de-escalate tensions. I
know that the noble Lord has reinforced that message in his
meetings with Israeli Government officials and the Palestinian
Authority. Last month’s joint statement by the UK, the US,
France, Germany and Italy, in reaction to Israeli plans to expand
settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, was a really
important move to reflect that sort of strategy.
Of course, that statement strongly opposed these unilateral
actions, which will serve only to exacerbate tensions between
Israelis and Palestinians, and undermine efforts to achieve a
negotiated two-state solution, which I think the whole House is
united behind.
Our efforts should not just be limited to international
government actions or negotiations between states. Peace between
the Israelis and the Palestinians will be achieved only through
direct negotiations between those parties. I echo my noble friend
and other noble Lords; as the
Prime Minister acknowledged, the expansion of the Arab-Israeli
peace in the region also provides a valuable route to
Israeli-Palestinian peace. It is an incredibly important
achievement.
Building peace also means improving lives. I do not think we
should underestimate the importance of civil society and
intercommunity activity. Through most of my working life, I
developed very strong relationships with Histadrut, the Israeli
trade union movement. That has been very important in how you can
build a social movement. Building that sort of peace means
backing economic development and supporting people-to-people
coexisting projects, which we have heard noble Lords refer
to—bringing everyday Israelis and Palestinians together.
I was particularly pleased that, at the end of last year, the
Prime Minister committed to explore the US joining the
international fund for Israeli-Palestinian peace, an effort that
actually has cross-party support—support from the leader of the
Labour Party, as well as the Prime Minister. Like my noble friend
Lady Ramsay, I hope the Minister can tell us what progress has
been made in backing that fund, particularly with the US. It is
five years since the UK officially supported and endorsed the
concept; I think it is about time we heard some positive news on
it.
20:42:00
The Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development
Office ( of Richmond Park) (Con)
My Lords, I start by thanking my noble and right reverend friend
Lord Harries for tabling this debate and highlighting these
important issues. My noble friend , the Minister for
the Middle East, is currently travelling, so I am standing in for
him. I thank all noble Lords for their insightful contributions
and will try to respond to all the points raised, although so
many have been raised that I think that is a long shot.
Too many lives have been lost to violence in Israel and the
Occupied Palestinian Territories and we need to accelerate
progress towards peace. In answer to the noble Lord, Lord Watson,
the UK’s position on the Middle East process is clear: we support
a negotiated settlement leading to a safe and secure Israel
living alongside a sovereign and viable Palestinian state, based
on the 1967 borders, with Jerusalem as a shared capital.
To respond to questions by a number of speakers, particularly the
noble Lords, Lord Stone and , we will recognise a
Palestinian state when it best serves the prospects of peace. I
want to indicate my agreement very strongly with the point of the
noble Lord, Lord Austin, that the journey towards those
circumstances is a long and complicated one, and requires hard
work on the part of Palestinians.
The security situation remains fragile. Last year, large numbers
of Palestinians and Israelis were killed by acts of violence, and
this year has started the same way, with further violence and
instability. The UK is working intensely with all parties and
international partners to end this deadly cycle. As the noble
Lord, Lord Collins, noted, my noble friend Lord Ahmad visited
Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories in January to
take this work forward, meeting Israeli and Palestinian
counterparts.
We were all appalled by the recent terror attacks near Jerusalem
that have been mentioned by almost everyone who has spoken today,
not least the noble Lords, Lord Austin and Lord Watson, but
others as well. We condemn these attacks in the strongest terms
possible and stand with Israel in the face of terrorism and
violence. Our thoughts remain with the victims and their
families. Similarly, we condemn recent indiscriminate rocket fire
from Gaza towards civilian populations. Any attacks targeted
against civilians are unlawful, unjustifiable and utterly
repugnant.
We are also concerned by the high number of Palestinian civilians
who have been killed and injured. It should go without saying
that Israel has a legitimate right to defend itself. However, it
is also important that Israeli forces exercise maximum restraint,
especially in the use of live fire, when protecting its
legitimate security interest. We have watched with concern the
numbers of people killed during incursions by Israeli security
forces into places such as Jenin, Jericho and Nablus. When there
are accusations of excessive use of force, we advocate swift and
transparent investigations. We also strongly condemn
indiscriminate violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinian
civilians—a point made by the noble Baroness, Lady
Janke—including the destruction of homes and properties. I
strongly share the view of the noble Lord, , that those responsible must
face full accountability and legal prosecution.
As we approach the religious festivals of Ramadan, Easter and
Passover next month, it is important to underline our support for
the historic status quo at the holy sites in the Old City of
Jerusalem. Sadly, there is a high risk of violence breaking out
during this period. During his visit to Israel and the Occupied
Palestinian Territories at the beginning of the year, my noble
friend Lord Ahmad visited Haram al-Sharif, the Temple Mount site.
He emphasised the UK’s unwavering commitment to freedom of
religion and belief and to ensuring the safety of all who visit
and worship there. We value the Jordanian Hashemite royal
family’s important role as custodian of the holy sites in
Jerusalem.
The UK Government are asking all parties to take urgent measures
to reduce tensions and de-escalate the situation. In answer to
the noble Lord, , over the weekend the UK
joined France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain to express our
grave concern in the face of continuing, growing violence in the
Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Speaking for the Jerusalem Foundation UK, my noble friend Lord
Leigh emphasised his abhorrence both at Palestinian schools being
named after terrorists and that an Israeli Minister called for
the wipe-out of the Palestinian village of Huwara. My noble
friend pointed out, and it is worth reiterating, that the remarks
were rightly condemned by the head of the IDF and others in
Israel. The UK has always firmly opposed any incitement to
violence. We are engaging closely with international partners to
end the deadly cycle of violence. We will carry on talking with
the Israeli and Palestinian leaderships to support co-operation,
stability and economic development for the benefit of both
parties.
My noble friend asked about the FCDO’s
engagement with the Abraham Accords. The UK fully supports the
Abraham Accords. We see the treaty as a unique opportunity to
enhance the peace process and raise the prospects of peace right
across the Middle East. I think my noble friend described it as
“the only game in town”. It certainly is enormously important. I
reassure him that, since its inception, the Israel bilateral team
in the Foreign Office has been fully engaged in supporting the
process. As we mentioned before the debate began, the lead
official in charge had changed in January, but the seat that he
had occupied was never left empty.
My noble friend also makes a point about the
importance of not applying different standards to Israel, as
compared with other countries. That is something that happens
frequently, and we need to guard against it. But I reassure him
and the noble Lord, Lord Purvis, who asked a similar question,
that there is no boycott of any Ministers. That is not something
that is being pursued by the UK. As my noble friend said, we will speak to
Ministers from Administrations across the world, and agreeing
with everything a Minister says or believes is not a prerequisite
or a condition that we apply.
Since the beginning of the year, the Foreign Secretary and my
noble friend Lord Ahmad have spoken to many influential
international partners who, like us, have a stake in calming the
situation. That includes US Secretary of State Blinken, Egyptian
Foreign Minister Shoukry and Jordanian Foreign Minister Safadi.
We are bringing together countries across the world to help
co-ordinate our efforts and maximise success.
The UK’s direct efforts take many forms: we help to improve
Palestinian security through the work of the British support team
in Ramallah, and our diplomatic teams in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem
are active on the ground, speaking to and working with their
hosts. In response to the noble Lord, , the Government absolutely
recognise the value of Israel’s Arab population in the peace
process, and I note the opinion poll of Israeli Arabs that my
noble friend Lord Leigh mentioned.
As the noble Lord, Lord Stone, highlighted, civil society
organisations play an important role. I assure him and other
noble Lords that the UK Government are firmly of the view that
these organisations must be able to operate freely in the OPTs.
We are also a strong supporter of UNRWA, which provides vital
services to those in need.
The noble Lord, Lord Stone, also mentioned the US Middle East
Partnership for Peace Act. UK officials remain in close contact
with the US Government about how existing peacebuilding projects
and funding can better support the goals of the Act, and we stand
ready to collaborate and co-ordinate further, including regarding
the Act’s advisory board, as additional information about its
plans and priorities becomes available.
But of course the UK cannot solve this problem by itself. The
noble Lord, Lord Hannay, and the noble Baroness, Lady Janke,
mentioned UNRWA, which I have commented on. The UK voted to renew
its mandate last year and remains a proud supporter of the
agency, which provides essential humanitarian support to
Palestinian refugees across the region. Although the seismic
impact of the pandemic on the UK economy forced us to take tough
decisions in relations to ODA, the UK remains a long-standing
supporter of UNRWA and values its importance as a vital
humanitarian and stabilising force in the region.
I cannot provide an answer to the noble Lord, Lord Purvis, so I
am afraid I will give the same answer that I have given so many
times in so many debates: future allocations will be set out on
the FCDO development tracker very soon, I hope.
The noble Baroness, Lady Ramsay, asked about the IRGC and
whether—
(LD)
It would be useful to put on the record that UK support for UNRWA
went from £70 million in 2018 to £28 million in 2021.
of Richmond Park (Con)
As I said, I am afraid I cannot give information about ongoing or
future funding.
The noble Baroness asked whether we would proscribe the IRGC. The
list of proscribed terrorist organisations is always under
review. We do not routinely comment on whether an organisation is
or is not under consideration for proscription. However, we have
taken clear action in response to the malign behaviour of the
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, including sanctioning the
organisation in its entirety.
A number of speakers have made the point that a spark of hope has
come from the recent meeting in Aqaba, where both Israelis and
Palestinians affirmed reciprocal commitments. The meeting is the
first in many years and an expression of intent on both sides to
engage constructively to de-escalate tensions. We urge all
parties to refrain from jeopardising this fragile process, as
some have attempted to do, and we call on all parties to make
good on the commitments made in Aqaba.
In answer to the noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Harries, the
Foreign Secretary spoke to his counterparts today and asked
Israel to live up to its commitments in Aqaba. We look to the
Palestinian Authority to resume full security co-operation with
Israel as a matter of urgency and to renounce and confront
terror. We urge the Government of Israel to cease and to rethink
its policies on settlements, evictions and demolitions with
immediate effect, a point made by almost everyone speaking today.
As we said on 14 February and, most recently, on 4 March, we
strongly oppose these unilateral steps; not only are they
contrary to international law but, as the noble Lord, said, they undermine the
prospects for peace.
The Prime Minister has made it clear that the UK will continue to
oppose all actions that make peace harder to achieve, whether
taken by the Palestinian or the Israeli side. The Government of
Israel and the Palestinian Authority must demonstrate through
both word and deed a genuine commitment to peace and security and
agree a two-state solution. That is the only way to end the
conflict, preserve Israel’s Jewish and democratic identity,
eliminate the existential threat that Israel has faced at all
times, and to realise Palestinian national aspirations.
My noble friend is right to point to the
almost unique importance of a strong and balanced Israel, and the
noble Lord, Lord Austin, is right to point to the protest in
Israel as evidence, if evidence were needed, that Israel is the
only country in the region where it is possible to disagree with
the state of the day. The noble Lord, Lord Purvis, made the point
that so many Palestinians have never experienced an election.
To conclude, a just and lasting resolution, one that ends the
occupation and delivers peace for both Israelis and Palestinians,
is long overdue. It is possible to restore stability and to
secure peace, but that requires efforts from all sides. The UK
stands ready to support them. I thank the noble and right
reverend Lord, Lord Harries, once again, for tabling the debate
and all noble Lords for their contributions.
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