Baroness Blower
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Middle East
Baroness Blower Excerpts(1 day, 9 hours ago)
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Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)
I hear what the noble Lord says, but we have to recognise that we condemned Iranian attacks on Israel. We have seen what Iran is capable of doing and how responsible it is for malign activity, most recently on 14 October. We have been focusing on calling on Iran and its allies to refrain from further attacks to de-escalate the situation and to support the opportunity for an agreed ceasefire.
Now that we have that ceasefire, we can work with our regional allies to ensure that there is a process that can deliver a more sustainable peace for the whole region. The mechanism for doing that has to be open to further dialogue. We cannot be prescriptive in the way that the noble Lord hopes to be. We know that mechanism delivered a much safer world in terms of nuclear proliferation, so we need to engage and focus with our allies in looking at the possible mechanisms to achieve that.
Baroness Blower (Lab)
My Lords, I wonder whether my noble friend knows that, over quite a lot of years—probably coming up to two decades—the international teacher trade union movement has worked extensively with teachers in Palestine, offering training and curriculum development. I include the Nordic countries, France and certainly Britain. I have been into Palestinian schools and looked extensively at the curriculum and I can assure my noble friend—and hope that he will agree—that UNRWA does not engage in indoctrination.
Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)
Like my noble friend, I had the opportunity to visit the Occupied Territories and I certainly visited schools. I looked at many of the facilities that UNRWA provided, and they are an essential mechanism for delivering that humanitarian aid. My noble friend makes a very important point, which again raises the issue of the role of civil society. Like the initiatives she mentioned in terms of teachers, there is a role for all kinds of civil society. We have heard about faith groups—I would mention trade unions. I had a long association with the Palestinian trade union federation. I think we can do more to encourage civil society from all quarters to support that reconstruction. So, I agree with my noble friend: there are great opportunities for the future here.