Middle East
Debate between Lord Pannick and Lord Lemos
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.
Lord Pannick (CB)
My Lords, the Minister mentioned the £10 million extra funding that will go to the Palestinian Authority. Can he explain why this Government are making that payment without first requiring the Palestinian Authority to comply with the demands of this country, the EU and the United States to address governance concerns so as to remove not just inefficiency but corruption, and why we are paying that money when the Palestinian Authority refuses to abandon its outrageous policy of paying the families of convicted murderers?
Lord Lemos (Lab)
The Government do not support the prisoner payments, as I am sure the noble Lord knows, and we have addressed that issue directly with the Palestinian Authority, so we hope that that is not going to continue. On the wider point, though, I sense that what the noble Lord is really asking me is whether we should require more of the Palestinian Authority before we part with large sums of money, and so on. To be direct about that, my answer is that we are committed to the two-state solution. The Palestinian Authority needs our support. Without that, there is no prospect for the two-state solution, including change in the approach to settlements on the West Bank. I know it is not comfortable; I am not pretending it is. I am not suggesting that this is all straightforward, and he knows I am not, but we feel that we should get behind the Palestinian Authority, within reasonable bounds.