Palestine

Baroness Morgan of Ely Excerpts

Wednesday 16th July 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Palmer of Childs Hill (LD)]

My Lords—

[Baroness Morgan of Ely (Lab)]

Does the Minister agree that any Palestinian Government should take better account of the needs of the youth of the territory, bearing in mind that 55% of the Palestinian population are under the age of 25, one-third of the youth are unemployed and 48% of Gaza youth have suggested that they would support an uprising against Hamas and believe that the new generation of leaders would do a better job? What can Her Majesty’s Government do to support the needs of Palestinian youth to help them get their voice heard in the future of their territory?

[Baroness Warsi]

The noble Baroness is absolutely right. This boils down to people and their futures. The Palestinian people and the Palestinian youth have a right to a strong, stable future where they can have the ambitions that we so take for granted. However, the tragedy of the current situation is that, unfortunately, if you look at what is happening on the ground, because of this current crisis Hamas is becoming more popular. That is not in the interests of the Palestinian people, it is certainly not in the interests of Israel and it is not in the interests of world peace.