Palestine Statehood (Recognition) Bill [HL]

Baroness Altmann Excerpts

Friday 14th March 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Altmann (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, I share the desire for peace of the noble Baroness, Lady Northover, and so many other noble Lords who have spoken today, and have always hoped for a two-state solution. The only party which has never accepted the idea of a Palestinian state alongside Israel is the Palestinians themselves. Israel was attacked by its neighbours right from the word go, and has been attacked again and again ever since, with the intent to wipe the Jewish state off the map. Israel has offered peace. It has given up land for peace. It still seeks peace—but with whom?

As the noble Lord, Lord Katz, said, timing is everything. At this moment, a Palestinian state within the pre-1967 borders is a fantasy, especially given the realities of the last few decades. Doing this now would be a reward for the jihadis, Islamists and extremist leaders of the Palestinians in Gaza, and their masters in Iran. They do not accept any borders; they want Israel from the river to the sea.

Those who chant the slogan on our streets every week are effectively calling for no two-state solution; they are calling for Israel to be eradicated. Also, in practice, the pre-1967 borders—originally accepted by Israel, of course—proved an unsustainable geographical dividing line, leaving Israel completely vulnerable to invasion and annihilation. Has the Minister been to the Golan Heights, for example, to see the complete overlooking of Israeli towns, leaving them wide open to murderous attack?

If the intention is to satisfy Palestinian demands for statehood, which I truly wish were possible, can the Minister—or other noble Lords—point to any evidence of their willingness to live in peace next to a Jewish state? If none is given today, perhaps the Minister would write to me: I would be grateful.

Hamas wants to wipe Israel off the map; nothing less would suffice. Both the Palestinian authority and Hamas reward their citizens for murdering and attacking Jews. They teach their children to want to kill them and that Israel has no right to exist. A Palestinian state will turn out the same as the post-2006 unoccupied Gaza. Israel withdrew unilaterally, dismantled the Jewish settlements established there, and what happened? The Palestinian leadership spent billions on building tunnels from which to attack and kill Israelis. Intifadas and suicide bombers killed Israelis.

They spent years preparing for 7 October: to torture, rape, kill and kidnap Israelis. They particularly targeted Israelis like me, who most wanted to live in peace with their Palestinian neighbours and who had spent their lives helping Palestinians, ferrying them to Israeli hospitals for treatment, employing them in their homes and engaging with them as friends and neighbours. The very people who wanted a two-state solution have now started to lose faith in it. The right reverend Prelate mentioned the absence of a peace process, but peace is not a solo. If one side does not seek peace, we would just be repeating past failures.

This Bill, if passed, would be a licence for further terrorism, I am afraid. It would be a signal that deliberately torturing and murdering Jews, promising to do it again and again, then hiding safely in tunnels under or behind your own civilians and knowingly, cynically, inviting retaliation from those you have attacked, will bring rewards from civilised countries whose emotions you have deliberately manipulated.

I know the noble Baroness wants to see peace—so do I—but I fear that this Bill will take us further away from that goal.