Gaza

Baroness Blackstone Excerpts

Monday 6th July 2015 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Blackstone (Lab)]

My Lords, it is now a year since the horrific war in Gaza in which over 2,000 Palestinians were killed, of whom 65% were civilians and over 500 were children, and 73 Israelis were killed, of whom six were civilians. As the noble Baroness, Lady Tonge, has said, much of the infrastructure in Gaza was destroyed—schools, hospitals, power and water plants, roads, residential accommodation—displacing 100,000 people, very few of whom have been rehoused. Along with the blockade of Gaza, this wanton destruction has crippled the Gazan economy, leaving it with one of the highest rates of unemployment in the world, at 43%, and a poverty rate of 39%, according to the World Bank. By the end of 2014, youth unemployment had soared to 60%.

As the noble Lord, Lord Gold, has just said, movement restrictions and the blockade, as well as the armed conflict, have led to Gaza’s economic performance being at rock bottom—worse in only three other countries in the world. It is estimated that 80% of the population are dependent for their survival on overseas aid. Following last year’s war, reconstruction has begun. However, the pace is terribly slow, because of the restrictions on the import of building materials due to the blockade. Lengthy power cuts continue and manufacturing has almost disappeared. After Israel’s imposition of the blockade in 2007, Gaza’s GDP was reduced by one-third, as the right reverend Prelate also mentioned.

I am afraid that I cannot agree with the noble Lord, Lord Gold, that this blockade is justified because of Israeli security problems. In fact, in the long term, the blockade will threaten Israel’s security. My first question to the Minister is about what steps the Government are taking to get the blockade lifted. Further efforts are surely needed following the request that the Foreign Secretary made to Egypt last month to open the Rafah crossing. Should there not be another concerted effort by the UK and the international community to put pressure on Israel to lift the blockade, which would allow the £3.5 billion pledged for reconstruction to be spent? Pledges are simply not enough; action is what is needed. Unless economic growth can be re-established and jobs created for young people, Gaza will surely become a breeding ground for much more dangerous extremism.

Last year’s war did not just result in many civilian deaths; it also left over 11,000 Palestinians injured, including 3,500 children, some of whom suffered permanent physical disability. As has already been mentioned, many more children have been traumatised, fearing to go to school, bedwetting, clinging to parents and with high levels of aggression. This is all well documented in a recent report by the Save the Children Fund. The damage done to so many children and young people does not augur well for the future of Gaza and its political system. There is a danger that some of them will grow up alienated, disturbed and easy prey for militant extremism, which the high rate of unemployment is likely to exacerbate. More aid is needed to provide psychological help to these children, as well as better conditions to give them some hope for the future.

There is already evidence that Salafist militants now claim allegiance to ISIL and are becoming very active in Gaza. They recently fired rockets into Israel with the aim of jeopardising the ceasefire. Were their numbers to grow greatly, Hamas’s crackdown on them might be very hard to sustain, resulting in potentially terrible consequences, not just for Gaza but for Israel.

My second question to the Minister is: what steps does the UK intend to take to implement the recommendations of the UN Human Rights Council’s report? The Independent Commission of Inquiry received full co-operation from the Palestinians, but, deplorably, not from the Israeli Government, who refused to respond to its questions. Nevertheless, the report was impeccably even-handed, finding fault on both sides. It criticised Palestinian armed groups for indiscriminate firing of rockets into Israel and the failure of the Palestinian authorities to bring those involved in violating international law to justice. It considered that many of the actions of the Israel Defense Force may have amounted to war crimes or violation of customary international humanitarian law. One of the issues that concerned it was Israel’s,

“lamentable track record in holding wrongdoers accountable, not only … to secure justice for victims but also to ensure the necessary guarantees for non-repetition”.

In the debate on the report, the UK Government voted in Geneva last week to support the UN’s accountability resolution. Will they now work at the UN in New York and in the European Union to set up investigations into possible war crimes in the interests of abolishing impunity? Surely we owe it to the victims of these atrocities to challenge the impunity that, up to now, has prevailed across the board? If we fail to do so, we must fear for the prospects of peace in Gaza and for a stable and secure political situation ever being established there.

Gaza

Baroness Blackstone Excerpts

Thursday 17th July 2014 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Warsi]

The noble Lord of course makes strong points. I said at this Dispatch Box only earlier this week that when we have these discussions it is important to emphasise the values upon which countries seek to operate. Regarding the ceasefire, I can say that last night delegations from both Israel and Hamas arrived in Cairo for discussions on the Egyptian initiative which is currently on the table. I understand that President Abbas is in Cairo and is due to meet General Sisi. It may well be that these latest tragic deaths have finally made people stop and think.

[Baroness Blackstone (Lab)]

My Lords, would the Minister agree that the Israeli Government’s long-standing oppression of the people of Gaza, where 50% of the population are children, can only serve to undermine the long-term security of Israel and its people?

[Baroness Warsi]

The Government have said on a number of occasions that it is of course in the interests of the Palestinians and, indeed, the Israelis for this matter to be resolved. As long as the underlying issues are not resolved, then neither people in neither country can be safe.

Middle East: Recent Developments

Baroness Blackstone Excerpts

Friday 13th July 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Blackstone]

My Lords, I wish to focus on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and the continuation of illegal settlement building, as well as the continuing failure to observe human rights in Palestine. I hope that my noble friend Lord Haskel will not accuse me of bigotry. Like him, I, too, admire Israeli science, technology, entrepreneurship and much of their cultural activity. What I will say is based on what I have witnessed and what I have read, and it is not inconsistent to admire Israel for some of the things that the noble Lord, Lord Haskel, described and at the same time be critical of successive Israeli Governments in relation to their policies on the occupation.

The peace process has been stalled for some time with little sign of any movement towards restarting it. It is now 19 years since the Oslo agreement and little progress has been made towards a durable settlement based on a two-state solution. Indeed, in many respects the situation has worsened and such a solution looks increasingly difficult. The international community appears to have given up taking any initiatives to restart it; of course, it has many other preoccupations, some of which we are debating today. The parties themselves seem either to have given up hope or to have decided that the status quo is a better outcome, or they are pursuing an altogether different agenda to buy themselves more long-term advantage.

The status quo cannot be the solution. It is intrinsically unstable and fundamentally without integrity. Central to what is wrong is the continuing construction of Israeli settlements on the West Bank, in spite of the fact that there is complete agreement in the international community that these settlements are illegal and that the Israeli Government have been told so in no uncertain terms. They continue to be built, leading to the displacement of yet more Palestinians. There are now around 500,000 settlers on the West Bank and in east Jerusalem. Does the Minister agree that their continuing expansion poses a grave threat to the two-state solution? What further steps will the UK Government take with our European partners to enforce legality?

There is a growing movement in favour of a boycott of exported goods from these illegal settlements. EU laws prohibit preferential treatment for goods produced in violation of international law, so how is it that the EU allows products made in illegal settlements preferential tariff-free entry into its markets? How is it that Europe has allowed Israel to get away with bundling goods from illegal settlements with those produced inside Israel, which it then ships here and elsewhere in Europe tariff-free? Why are consumer protection laws not enforced properly so that consumers can make informed choices about what they buy through the proper labelling of settlement goods? Surely steps should be taken in Europe to enforce EU laws. Perhaps the Minister could explain why preferential tariffs are continuing when, as far back as far back as 2005, Heads of State in an EU Council called for,

“the abolition of financial and tax incentives and direct and indirect subsidies, and the withdrawal of exemptions benefiting the settlements and their inhabitants”.

Voluntary labelling in supermarket chains is, of course, welcome, but it is inadequate. For example, it does not cover wholesale goods used in ready-prepared food and in the catering industry.

I turn to the issue of construction policies and the highly discriminatory way in which they are operated in the West Bank by the Israeli military so that, between 2000 and 2007, 94% of Palestinians were denied permit applications. In contrast to the near total restrictions on Palestinian construction, settlement housing starts were up by 20% in 2011. How can this help to prepare for a viable Palestinian state? When in desperation Palestinians build without permits, they risk what they have put up being demolished. Hundreds of Palestinian homes were demolished in 2011, displacing more than 1,000 people, 60% of whom live near settlements according to the United Nations. Israel also destroyed latrines, water systems and wells needed by Palestinians because Israelis had refused to connect communities to the water and sewage grids. It is even more scandalous that, according to the UN, more than 25% of the buildings demolished had been internationally funded, notably by European donors. Donors are now very reluctant to invest in expensive development projects and are reduced to giving more and more emergency humanitarian aid rather than the much more beneficial long-term development aid. Will the UK, with our European partners, take some action to object to these violations of Israel’s international obligations as an occupying power?

A related issue to construction policies concerns the state of a Palestinian economy. Any preparation for a two-state solution must include economic development. World Bank estimates indicate that the occupation has led to a large reduction in output so that the Palestinian economy is only about one-fifth of the size of what it would otherwise be. The restrictions imposed range from unacceptable controls on both imports and exports, to lack of access to water for farmers, the allocation of large tracts of the most fertile land to settlers as well as to the denial of fishing rights through curtailed fishing zones. All that increases Palestinian dependence on aid, which Europe and other donors provide at the expense of taxpayers.

The lack of progress towards an independent Palestinian state continues to affect every aspect of Palestinian life, including the daily harassment at checkpoints, where it is not uncommon for people to be detained for two or three hours on their way to or from work; the refusal to allow students from Gaza to attend West Bank universities; housing demolitions in parts of east Jerusalem that border on ethnic cleansing; and the inhumane treatment of children arrested and subsequently tried in many cases by the Israeli military authorities. Since I last raised the issue in this House, an excellent report by a group of distinguished UK lawyers has been published. Its condemnation of the system is very powerful, and I wonder whether the Minister could say what steps the UK will now take since the study was sponsored by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

What I have described are just some of the reasons why the status quo in the Israeli-Palestinian relationship is not acceptable. So is the continual firing of rockets from Gaza into southern Israel, which I unreservedly condemn. Yet to continue the so-called process as it is currently constructed seems doomed to failure. The quartet is widely regarded as a busted flush. It is seemingly impossible to get the two parties in the same room. There is no drive or energy in the international community to try and make progress. Yet the only solution in the end, as the Minister has quite rightly said, is a negotiated one. New leadership in Israel and Palestine might certainly help but that, of course, cannot be imposed from outside. Elections in Palestine are long overdue, which has led to justified questions about the operation of democracy there. The next Israeli election is not now likely until autumn 2013.

A recent report of the International Crisis Group suggests that a new architecture is needed, although it rightly rejects a one-state solution, which would be unacceptable to most Israelis and unworkable anyway. First, a move away from the quartet to a new form of mediation is probably needed. Secondly, the terms of the debate need to be expanded from dealing just with the consequences of the 1967 war. Nothing less than examining some of the issues that emanate from 1948 is likely to lead to a durable settlement. Courage is required to address these bigger issues—such as the character of the state of Israel and the Arab minority within it, Israel’s justified concerns about regional security, and the right of return for Palestinians. There needs to be recognition of both Jewish and Palestinian history—on both sides.

The argument of the International Crisis Group, that a new start is needed, is compelling. Such a new start needs to take into account the wider, profound changes in the Middle East that have been discussed in this debate. Meanwhile, a number of small steps, some of which I have alluded to, need to be taken to help the Palestinian people economically and to restore basic human rights to them.

Queen’s Speech

Baroness Blackstone Excerpts

Thursday 17th May 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Blackstone]

My Lords, it is perhaps appropriate that I should follow the noble Lord, Lord King of Bridgwater, in this debate, given his concerns about what is happening in Israel, since I want to speak about the occupation of the West Bank by Israel and the continuing harassment and humiliation of the Palestinian people that this entails. In doing so, I ask the Government, through their membership of the EU and other international bodies, to use their best efforts to put pressure on the Israeli Government to stop the expansion of settlements and to adhere to human rights in their treatment of Palestine.

Having recently returned from the West Bank and Jerusalem, I was shocked by what I saw. There are now 500,000 settlers on the West Bank, and their numbers are growing every day. The size and number of these illegal settlements make a two-state solution, to which the Minister referred in his opening speech, more and more difficult because they deny the prospect of territorial integrity for a prospective Palestinian state. There has been no progress in the peace process. The Israeli Government give the impression that they wish to continue the status quo, modified only by even more settlers taking over land which at the time of the Oslo agreement was deemed to be set aside for the Palestinians.

GDP per head in Palestine is now only at 1994 levels. It has been calculated that the Palestinian economy would be six times greater in size were it not for the effects of the occupation. These effects include the inability of Palestinian businesses to export their products without very high costs imposed by barriers placed by the Israeli Government on the transport of goods from the West Bank into Israel. As a consequence, there is little interest from foreign investors, and Palestinians living abroad, who have attempted in the past to invest, have been unable to make a profit and in some cases have lost large sums of money.

Palestinian agriculture has been seriously damaged by loss of land to settlements and by the failure of the Israeli Government to ensure that water supplies are maintained. Water consumption by the settlers is hugely greater than that of Palestinians. The building of the wall has cut off Palestinian farmers from their olive groves and from their land for horticulture. In turn, this has led to a high proportion of the Palestinian population becoming dependent on food aid. This is mainly provided now by the EU and consequently means that British and other European taxpayers are having to fork out to pay for the consequences of the Israeli Government’s irresponsible policies. More than 80 per cent of national income in Palestine is now development aid, half of which is humanitarian aid, from which, of course, there are no long-term benefits.

The Palestinian people have for many years been committed to education, which they see as an important contribution to economic growth. However, stagnation in the Palestinian economy means that many educated young Palestinians have to seek opportunities overseas. The universities suffer from unacceptable harassment. For example, when trying to update equipment for their science and engineering laboratories, they order items from a standard catalogue used by scientific and technology faculties from many countries. Israeli customs dismantles the equipment and removes key components, which it justifies on the grounds that such equipment could be put to “dual use”. However, it gives no adequate evidence for this and leaves these important science and technology departments with expensive equipment that is unusable. All universities of any quality around the world now recruit their academic staff internationally and thus have many academic staff from overseas countries. The Israeli Government refuse to allow Palestinian universities to recruit from overseas, thereby damaging the quality of their teaching and the fulfilment of their research potential.

The military courts’ treatment of children who have been arrested for throwing stones at Israeli soldiers is little short of disgraceful. An international NGO has recently documented what happens to these children in a searing report entitled Bound, Blindfolded and Convicted. I recommend it to those of your Lordships who are interested in the humane treatment of children and in what happens when they suffer verbal abuse and humiliation as well as physical violence from those who have arrested them and are holding them in custody. The long-term effects of treating boys in this way cannot be underestimated. The bitterness and resentment they feel is no surprise and, of course, damages any prospect of good relationships between Israelis and Palestinians in the future—a prospect that we all must want.

The lack of time means that I cannot go into the issues around the use of administrative detention on more than 300 adult prisoners in Israel, the completely unacceptable prison regimes and the keeping of numbers of these prisoners in solitary confinement. However I welcome the fact that, following the recent hunger strikes, the Israeli Government have responded to these protests and promise reforms. Nevertheless, it is important that international bodies continue to monitor what happens to these prisoners, following decisions made this week.

Many other aspects of the occupation cause great distress and damage and disrupt the economy and people’s everyday lives. This includes the daily humiliation of going through Israeli-manned checkpoints to get to work, to go to school or simply to visit friends and families. The main checkpoint in Jerusalem is a particular cause for concern, with Palestinian workers herded like cattle through pens surrounded with metal fencing. The delays can be up to three hours. They affect the population at many different levels, from senior officials in the Palestinian Authority to schoolteachers who cannot get to school in time to instruct their pupils, to those undertaking semi-skilled and unskilled jobs in Israel. In parts of east Jerusalem settlers are taking over land and housing from Palestinians against their will. Elsewhere, Arab houses have been destroyed to provide yet more land for settlers.

The situation that I have described cannot be in the long-term interests of Israel. The more it goes on, the more other nations will refuse to support Israel in international, economic and political fora. Plenty of Israeli citizens wish for and deserve something better from their Government with respect to the treatment of Palestinians under the occupation. We owe it to those citizens, as well as to the Palestinians, to put pressure on the Government of Israel, first through economic sanctions—particularly on exports coming from illegal settlements—and, secondly, by upping political pressure for a change in Israel’s policies in occupying for more than 40 years territory to which it has no right.