Gaza

Debate between Catherine West and Brendan O'Hara

Tuesday 4th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Catherine West]

I thank my hon. Friend for his question, and for his expertise on aid and foreign affairs. He is quite right to emphasise the actions of some settlers. There are many settler communities that just get on with it, and that want a peaceful solution, but he is right to say that there is violence in the settlements, which are of course unlawful under international humanitarian law and harm the prospects of a two-state solution. I thank my hon. Friend for putting on record the impact on the faith community, particularly during the holy month of Ramadan, and the fact that mosques have been attacked. We will ensure that that point gets through in our next discussion with our interlocutors, both on the Israeli side and on the Palestinian side.

[Brendan O’Hara (Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber) (SNP)]

No one is surprised that as soon as the world’s attention shifted from Gaza, Israel reimposed its siege, preventing the entry of all humanitarian aid. The Minister knows the impact that this will have on the beleaguered civilian population, who are already suffering from disease, starvation and an absence of healthcare. After 17 months in which Israel has been given carte blanche, none of us—least of all Netanyahu—expects there to be any meaningful consequences from Israel’s actions, but does the Minister consider what is happening in Gaza to be collective punishment? If she does not, what would she call it?

[Catherine West]

Sometimes, the words we use are really important. There has been an enormous amount of suffering. We know that so many in Israel feel that we do not understand their need for security, and so many in Gaza feel that we do not understand the depth of their suffering. We must redouble our efforts to communicate what we want, which is a two-state solution and a peaceful future for both communities, which must live side by side.

Georgia

Debate between Catherine West and Brendan O'Hara

Tuesday 3rd December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Brendan O’Hara (Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber) (SNP)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Arbroath and Broughty Ferry (Stephen Gethins) on securing this urgent question. Last week the European Parliament called for a re-run of the elections, describing them as being neither free nor fair, and accusing the ruling party of being fully responsible for democratic backsliding in Georgia. Why have the UK Government not gone as far as the European Parliament in calling for a re-run of the elections? Will the Minister commit to sharing the evidence that she gets on electoral irregularities? What representations has the FCDO made to the Georgian ambassador to the UK about the road that the people of Georgia are being forced down?

[Catherine West]

I thank the hon. Member for his question and for his general interest in foreign policy matters in this House. He will be aware that the Minister for Europe, North America and the Overseas Territories, my hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff South and Penarth (Stephen Doughty), made clear the UK’s support for the findings of the preliminary report of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights election monitoring mission. The Government supported the programme with 50 observers to the elections. The report highlights irregularities, but while the investigation into those electoral irregularities is ongoing, the reasonable position to take is to wait for it to be completed so that we can understand exactly what went on and how much coercion there was. As a result, we would speak to our interlocutors—the Georgian ambassador and our mission in Tbilisi—about impressing upon Government figures the impact on Georgia’s international reputation of having a whole lot of young people protesting in the public squares.

We have called on the Government of Georgia to implement the recommendations of the monitoring mission after the publication of the report, so that we can base our policy on the facts in that report. As I explained to the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, my right hon. Friend the Member for Islington South and Finsbury (Emily Thornberry), we do not have an identical position to European partners. We want to take a reasonable position and ask questions, but that does not preclude taking firmer action later if we remain concerned about how the Government are formed following this election.