Middle East
Debate between Lord Anderson of Swansea and Lord Lemos
Lord Lemos (Lab)
I thank the noble Lord and pay tribute to his experience and track record in this area. On the question of the practical help that we should be offering to Lebanon and the Lebanese army, I am very happy to accept his challenge. If there are practical things we can do, we should be doing them. That is absolutely right. I will take that back to the department and find out exactly what the situation is. That does not seem to me at all inconsistent with where the Government stand on this.
On the question of discussions with Israel, the noble Lord will know that in the current situation these things are extremely difficult. But we will keep talking to all the parties involved. We have a significant role in the various groups that have been set up around all these conflicts and we will continue to be part of that, including talking to Israel.
Lord Anderson of Swansea (Lab)
My Lords, does the Minister agree that no minority has contributed more positively to this country, in the past and now, than the Jewish community in our midst?
The Statement is one that I generally recognise and applaud, and it appears to have all-party support. But are we not in danger of ignoring the fact that Hezbollah is so intertwined within the communities in Lebanon that it is very difficult indeed to expect the Lebanese Government to launch a campaign against it? Should we not also recognise that there is no real prospect of Hamas decommissioning its weapons? That would be the end of Hamas. It is also unrealistic to expect the Israeli Cabinet, as currently constituted, to exert any real pressure on settler violence. These assumptions are all somewhat unrealistic.
Lord Lemos (Lab)
Let me try to deal with some of the points my noble friend has raised. Frankly, I would not want to single out a particular community as having made a greater contribution to this country than any other. But I absolutely recognise the contribution the Jewish community has made to this nation’s life, sometimes in the most difficult circumstances for that community. I stand absolutely four-square behind my own admiration for the Jewish community in Britain.
On Hezbollah and demilitarising, let me be absolutely clear. The Government do not think Hezbollah has any place in the future of Lebanon. That is our view. On decommissioning Hamas, our view is that we want to strengthen the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian governance. That is why we have taken the steps we have to support the Palestinian Authority. We have given it £10 million this year. We want to deliver some basic services. We are funding 5,300 health professionals in Palestine. My noble friend Lord Barber—Michael Barber—is working there too.
The thing I really want to stress, in relation to what my noble friend Lord Anderson said, is the importance of civil society. When I travel in that region, many people in Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Lebanon, and so on, do not share the views of their Governments and the various actors in the areas. Tomorrow, I am happy to say, the Foreign Secretary, along with Canada and Australia, will launch a peacebuilding fund that seeks to work specifically with civil society in Israeli and Palestinian communities. I greatly welcome that.
Refugee Movements: Lebanon
Debate between Lord Anderson of Swansea and Lord Lemos
Lord Lemos (Lab)
I thank the noble Lord. Existing bilateral programming continues to bolster preparedness and national response capacity. This includes a £1 million top-up in January to pre-position emergency supplies via the British Red Cross and the Lebanese Red Cross, as well as smaller reallocations by the UNFPA, IOM, UNICEF and others, to meet urgent needs. We will, of course, keep under consideration any requests for further help. We are very mindful of the situation in Lebanon. It is an enormous displacement: hundreds of thousands of people are homeless and are sleeping in temporary shelters on the seafront in Beirut. We will certainly take that forward. With regard to people smuggling, this is a fast-evolving situation, as I am sure the noble Lord knows. We will continue to monitor that, but we are very mindful of those dangers.
Lord Anderson of Swansea (Lab)
My Lords, the increasing turbulence in the Middle East—in Lebanon, yes, but also in Sudan, South Sudan and Iran—means many more humanitarian tragedies and many more people who technically qualify as refugees and asylum seekers. Are we prepared for this? What are we doing in consultation with our European allies to prepare for a greater influx of refugees and asylum seekers?
Lord Lemos (Lab)
My Lords, I have answered questions before at this Dispatch Box about the situation in Sudan and elsewhere. We are very mindful of the movement of refugees.