§ 2.44 p.m.
§ Lord Hyltonasked Her Majesty's Government:
In what ways they are assisting the non-violent majority among Israelis and Palestinians to express their views and to co-operate towards the settlement of outstanding issues.
§ Baroness Symons of Vernham DeanMy Lords, Her Majesty's Government are assisting in a number of 120 ways. They include the meeting on Palestinian reform, which was held in London on 14th January; participating in meetings in London last week on the Palestinian economy; support for the Alexandria process; funding projects which bring together Israelis and Palestinians in verification and enforcement of future agreements; and contributing to the Joint Vision for Peace project in the Ben Gurion University.
§ Lord HyltonMy Lords, I welcome what the Foreign Office has been doing, particularly over the recent London conference. I also welcome what the Prime Minister said this morning about illegal settlements. Does the Minister agree that it is remarkable that, despite terrorism and military action, there is still a majority of people on both sides who want non-violent solutions? Will the Government help them both to express their own views and to collaborate in what may be termed "people's diplomacy"?
§ Baroness Symons of Vernham DeanMy Lords, I very much thank the noble Lord, Lord Hylton, for his welcome remarks. I heard what my right honourable friend the Prime Minister said about illegal settlements. They are illegal under international law. We believe that they are an obstacle to peace and that Israel should freeze all settlement activity.
The noble Lord is entirely right. There is a majority among both communities—Israelis and the Palestinians—who want to find a peaceful way forward. I hope that the five substantial examples that I laid before your Lordships of ways in which Her Majesty's Government are helping that dialogue among a nonviolent majority will be of further encouragement to the noble Lord.
§ Baroness Williams of CrosbyMy Lords, perhaps I may add to the compliments paid to the Government for their initiative with regard to the conference about the future of the Palestinian administration. What steps do the Government propose to take to alleviate what is now very close to being a total breakdown in the supply of food and other essentials to the Palestinians? In the past few days UNWA has warned that a complete breakdown of Palestinian society is very close and that the level of nutrition among children is now equivalent to that in the Congo or Zimbabwe. Does she agree that if that condition remains, the non-violent majority of Palestinians may well not remain non-violent for very long?
§ Baroness Symons of Vernham DeanMy Lords, I have a great deal of sympathy with what the noble Baroness has said. United Kingdom bilateral aid for the Palestinians in the period from 1996–97 to 2001–02 totalled more than £48 million. We also provided £65.9 million to UNWA for Palestinian refugees in that same period.
There is also, unfortunately, a history of destruction of humanitarian aid on the part of the Israeli defence forces. We deplore such acts. We believe the action of the Israeli 121 defence forces must be proportionate. Together with our EU partners, we have raised concerns about those issues with the Israeli Government.
§ Lord Lawson of BlabyMy Lords, looking a little further ahead, given that the two facts about this distressing situation are that the case for a successful Palestinian Arab state is unanswerable, but equally that the present Palestinian Authority is both corrupt and incompetent, is there not a strong case for Her Majesty's Government supporting a United Nations authority in a Palestinian Arab state until such time as an indigenous leadership emerges which is capable of leading the country?
§ Baroness Symons of Vernham DeanMy Lords, our priority at the moment is to ensure that the Quartet working on the road map is given the best possible chance of success. Of course it is difficult to discuss that with the Israeli Government while the details of the government remain to be decided. We know that the Likud Party will join the National Religious Party and the secular party, Shinui, in forming the government, but as yet the disposition of which politicians will occupy which roles has not been decided.
However, when it is decided, we will want to see rapid progress on the road map which has been formulated by the Quartet and which we believe should be supported.
§ Lord Wright of RichmondMy Lords, does the Minister agree that one urgent and necessary way to assist the non-violent majority of Israelis and Palestinians is not only to dismantle the illegal settlements to which the Minister referred—on which I fear that the inclusion of the National Religious Party in the Israeli Government is not an encouraging prospect—but to dismantle the security fence, which has already absorbed a large amount of Palestinian territory into Israel and is causing massive human suffering day by day by separating Palestinians from their land and their livelihood?
§ Baroness Symons of Vernham DeanMy Lords, settlement activity and the security fence are causes of great concern to Her Majesty's Government. Settlement activity has increased during the past year; it is important to keep that issue in the forefront of our minds. We are concerned about the 360 kilometre-long fence, to which the noble Lord referred, which takes up so much Palestinian land and separates families. Our embassy in Tel Aviv has raised with the Israeli Government our concern about the location and the impact of the security fence. We fully understand Israel's need to take steps within the law to protect itself from terrorist attack, but that must be achieved through a negotiated peace, not by measures such as the security fence.
§ Lord TurnbergMy Lords, does my noble friend agree that the horrendous anti-Israel propaganda 122 issued by the Palestinian Authority's state-sponsored media is unhelpful to the suffering Palestinians as well as the unfortunate Israelis?
§ Baroness Symons of Vernham DeanYes, my Lords, I strongly believe that. As we have discussed many times in your Lordships' House, this is a terrible situation in which the cycle of violence, fed by messages of hatred and misunderstanding on both sides, does nothing to help the majority among the Israelis and the Palestinians who, as the noble Lord, Lord Hylton, pointed out, want to co-operate towards a settlement of the outstanding issues. That constant cycle of rhetoric—violent rhetoric, if I may say so—is most unhelpful.