Middle East
Debate between Lord Lemos and Lord Craig of Radley
Lord Lemos (Lab)
I do not want to take a doom-laden view on this, but the Prime Minister and the leaders of other countries have made very clear what the consequences of E1 going ahead will be. That is why we are against it, and that is why we have set our position out clearly. I would not want to go quite as far as the noble Lord does in saying that it ruins all hope of the two-state solution, but it is very serious. On the other point he made—this point was made extensively in the other place—about why we do not ban this altogether, the Government’s view, and I want to be completely straightforward about this, is that there is legitimate trade with Israel and legitimate activities with Israel and civil society and we do not want to compromise them. If this advice is insufficient, if I can put it like that, we will review it and keep it under review. We are completely clear, as I have already said, and I am very happy to reinforce it, that we do not want British companies involved in E1 or any of the other settlements on the West Bank, and we will do what is necessary.
I shall come back very quickly to the noble Lord, Lord Pannick. I have the official answer to his question on prisoner payments, so I had better read it out for the record to prevent myself getting into trouble. We welcome the important commitments made by the Palestinian Authority to reform prisoner payments so that welfare payments are needs-based and delinked from violent actions. I hope I have made that clear, and I will not have to correct myself.
Lord Craig of Radley (CB)
My Lords, at the start of the American operation against Iran, His Majesty’s Government refused the use of some bases, including RAF Fairford and Diego Garcia. Since then, permission has been granted to the Americans. Does that permission still stand, and will it stand until operations against Iran are complete?
Lord Lemos (Lab)
The Prime Minister has made it clear that this is not our war and that we will permit the use of our bases for defensive reasons only. That remains the position of the Government, and it has not changed.