Israel (Hansard, 30 January 2003)

§ Baroness Crawley
My Lords, preliminary results show that the Likud Party won the most votes in the election. Mr Sharon will be invited to try to form a new government. We may not know the final make-up of the new government for some weeks. We want to work closely in the search for peace with the new Israeli Government, whatever the composition. In particular, we shall be looking for them to engage with the Palestinians and the international community on the implementation of the quartet road map within the time framework set out by President Bush on 24th June.

§ Lord Blaker
My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Baroness for that reply, and especially for her reference to the work of the quartet. Es she aware that in his State of the Union speech two days ago, President Bush devoted only one short sentence to relations between Israel and the Palestinians? When the Prime Minister meets President Bush tomorrow, will he urge him to pay more attention to removing the suspicions of so many of the Arab countries that this matter is not of interest to the United States and that the United States tends to be less than impartial in its relations between the two sides? Would it not be a useful start if President Bush were to publish his road map for peace in the Middle East and if the Prime Minister did his best to discourage some of the senior advisers to President Bush from their belief that the removal of President Saddam Hussein by force would make the solution to the Israel-Palestinian problem easier?

§ Baroness Crawley
My Lords, I very much agree with the noble Lord, Lord Blaker, that the road map should be published as soon as possible. I am assured that the Middle East peace process will be part of the discussions that the Prime Minister will take part in with President Bush when he meets him this week. As the noble Lord will know from his experience in these matters, the United States has taken a great interest in the road map, which is the confidence-building process that is crucial to finding a negotiated settlement.

§ Lord Janner of Braunstone
My Lords, does my noble friend agree that she and I spent some 18 years opposing the elected government of this country and trying to get rid of them? If we recognise that Israel has elected its government, perhaps it would be right to bid 1281 them welcome and say that we will do all we can to advance the cause of peace which is so necessary for not only the Israelis but the Palestinians.

§ Baroness Crawley
Yes, my Lords, I agree with my noble friend that we will work closely with the new Israeli Government. It will be some weeks before we know the final outcome of the negotiations to form that government, but we will work closely with them on that road to peace.

§ Lord Wallace of Saltaire
My Lords, can we have every confidence that the Government will continue to push forward with their efforts to engage the Palestinian authorities as well as the Israelis in continuing peace discussions? Will the Government please make it clear again to the new Israeli Government, as they did to the old one, that banning travel rather than assisting authoritative Palestinian representatives to come to multilateral peace conferences does not help?

§ Baroness Crawley
Yes, my Lords, I agree with the noble Lord. We regretted the ban on travel for the Palestinian representatives to the London conference on Palestinian reforms. We want the Palestinian authorities to take very seriously the reforms that they signed up to at that conference. There is a new Palestinian commitment to work on its constitution. We expect an agreed outline in the next few days on work in progress on that constitution. As a result of the Palestinian reform conference, hosted by my right honourable friend the Foreign Secretary in London earlier this month, we have a clear commitment to finalising preparations for free, fair and open elections. It has to be said that there was recognition of the work of the Palestinian authorities on financial accountability, which the Finance Minister has been working extremely hard to improve.

§ Lord Clinton-Davis
My Lords, which countries in the Middle East have free elections? Will the Prime Minister seek talks with the leader of the Likud Party and also the Labour Party, because they are members of the same International?

§ Baroness Crawley
My Lords, I cannot roll off the top of my head all the countries around the globe that have free and fair elections. In the Middle East, of course, Israel comes to mind. However, the British Government will work with all parties to negotiate a peace settlement.

§ Lord Howell of Guildford
My Lords, the noble Baroness's replies to these questions have been welcome and positive. However, does she agree that while the matter of forming a new government in Israel is entirely a matter for the Israeli people, it would be good to see emerge some kind of centrally inclined coalition, including statesmen such as Shimon Peres? 1282 That would prepare the way for taking the opportunities for peace that should arise as a consequence of changes in Iraq.

§ Baroness Crawley
My Lords, I agree very much with the noble Lord that we should not involve ourselves in the agreed final make-up of the new Israeli Government—that is a matter for the Israeli people and their representatives. But whoever becomes the new Israeli Government must give a signal to the international community that they are serious about going down the route of a negotiated peace settlement. As a famous Member of this House and a former Prime Minister used to say, there is no alternative.