Baroness Deech
Main Page: Baroness Deech (Crossbench - Life peer)
Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con)
The noble Baroness is right; de-escalation is important, and that is a point we are making to all parties. Clearly, violence against peaceful worshippers at the al-Aqsa mosque was unacceptable. The UK is committed to preserving the religious status quo at the holy sites in Jerusalem, particularly during the holy month of Ramadan and today as, as she says, Eid al-Fitr begins. We wish all those celebrating Eid Mubarak. We urge all parties to respect this and to refrain from provocation.
Baroness Deech (CB) [V]
My Lords, it is too simplistic, and morally inept, to start apportioning blame, counting lives lost on either side and comparing damage. Funds poured into Gaza have been used to build rockets, not alleviate poverty. This confrontation is the work of Iran, which: funds Hamas; is calling for the use of missiles; wants to disrupt the Abraham Accords; and is behind the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives in the area. The escalation of tension was long-planned and fuelled by Abbas fearing that Hamas would win an election. Will the Minister use the forthcoming G7 gathering to point out the dangers of appeasing Iran by returning to the ineffective Iran nuclear deal? And will he position the UK to fill the power vacuum left by President Biden’s inaction?
Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con)
My Lords, the UK unequivocally condemns the firing of rockets into Israel. We strongly condemn these acts of terrorism from Hamas and other terrorist groups, which must permanently end their incitement of and rocket fire against Israel. We are working, as I say, with our partners in the region. We have engaged Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations to support their efforts to mediate and are stressing that we want to see both sides step back from this and the situation de-escalated.