King’s Speech

Lord Palmer of Childs Hill Excerpts

Wednesday 15th November 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Palmer of Childs Hill (LD)]

My Lords, I declare my interest as president of the Liberal Democrat Friends of Israel. I am delighted to see the noble Lord, Lord Ahmad, still on the Bench there, and long may he continue.

I will in the main speak about the conflict in Gaza, but it is worth starting my remarks by reminding the House, although it does not really need reminding, of the brutal murder of men, women and children by Hamas on 7 October—1,400 innocents murdered by Hamas death squads. There were 226 partygoers going for a gig with music who were killed while enjoying life; 240 Israelis were taken hostage, and we can only pray that they will live.

Israel retaliated. Did anyone, including Hamas, think it would be otherwise? At the same time, and still to this day, Hamas and Islamic Jihad are firing rockets at Israel, and Israel’s border towns have been evacuated in the north and south. But, very sadly, the retaliation has resulted in far too many deaths and injuries, and a lack of fuel, water and food for the poor people of Gaza. A real humanitarian problem has arisen out of this conflict, not unconnected to the Hamas policy of using the people of Gaza as human shields. There is a need for a pause in hostilities to lead to a return of Israeli hostages, a ceasefire and increased humanitarian relief.

We never know what to believe. You see all these stories coming out, and you are never sure what it is. There was a picture of people fleeing from hospitals in northern Gaza and being shot down. Logic shows that Israel wanted them to flee to southern Gaza. The only people who did not want them to flee were Hamas, so logic says, “Who shot them?”.

Like all conflicts, it is not a frozen scenario. Yesterday IDF troops took control of Gaza City’s al-Rantisi hospital, and discovered and showed a weapons trove in the basement, including suicide vests, grenades, AK47 assault rifles, explosive devices and RPGs. There was evidence of the occupation in the basement of that hospital. Now troops surround Gaza City’s al-Shifa hospital, and I understand that today they have entered the compound. What will they find in its basements and tunnels beneath the site? I do not know. The Israelis say that they know—and various people in hospitals deny that it is happening. We will have to wait and see.

We want a ceasefire, but an interim thing that I hope we could all agree on is that there should be a cessation of aerial bombardment, be it rockets from Hamas and Islamic Jihad or aerial bombardment from Israel—because aerial bombardment is the most unfeeling sort of war that there is, with no contact.

Moving on, we urgently need an international consensus around a plan for a post-Hamas Gaza. The plan somehow must offer an alternative political order that prevents the resurgence of Hamas and marginalises its destructive ideology. I invite noble Lords to agree that Hamas cannot be able to rule Gaza either politically or militarily. That is Israel’s aim—will the world and Members of this House agree? It has to be a Palestinian Government to secure legitimacy in Gaza and the West Bank, and in this we need the support of Arab states. We could call for a Palestinian-led technocratic Gaza interim Administration, linked to the Palestinian Authority but autonomous so as to bridge the gap between the status quo and the full reunification of the West Bank and Gaza under the Palestinian Authority —an internationally backed interim Administration to replace Hamas in Gaza, facilitate economic development and prepare for future elections. Israel needs to do its part, which includes controlling militant settlers on the West Bank. There has never been a greater need for a two-state solution. I am an optimist, and I want a two-state solution.