Gaza

Baroness Morris of Bolton Excerpts

Wednesday 8th February 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Morris of Bolton]

My Lords, I never know quite where to start with the plight of the remarkable people of Gaza, except to say that my visit there in 2010 made a profound impact on me. I declare an interest as president of Medical Aid for Palestinians and other interests as set out in the register. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Warner, for this debate.

I well remember visiting an UNWRA food distribution centre. Queuing for their quarterly ration of basic goods were proud men, women and children. Among those to whom we spoke were graduates, skilled people and many who had run small businesses. They were not queuing because there had been a famine, a flood or an earthquake. There had been no natural disaster. They queued because they belonged to around 800,000 people in a population of some 1.7 million, of which more than half were children, who depend on the international community for food aid.

The collective punishment of the blockade means that people cannot lead the sort of economic lives, as the noble Baroness, Lady Blackstone, said, that most of us take for granted. Eight out of 10 men, women and children now rely on some form of international assistance.

The powerlessness of the Palestinians in Gaza to work, manufacture, import, export and travel freely is a shocking waste of human ability. We should be spending our hard-earned tax money on human development and not on subsistence for people who are clever, well skilled and entrepreneurial, and who have so much to offer to the world. Add to that the long-term issue of critically low medicines and medical supplies, the worsening situations around power cuts and voltage fluctuations, which disrupt life-saving equipment, and you can only marvel at the amazing resilience of the Palestinians.

I do not know one person who does not wish to see a secure Israel but the effective siege and occupation of the Palestinian people is no way to achieve it. A young woman from Gaza whom I recently had the pleasure of meeting said to me, “All we want is to be able to play our part as global citizens”. I hope that that day is not too far away but in the mean time I hope that we will do all that we can to ensure the decent and fair treatment of Gaza’s people.