Glenda Jackson
Main Page: Glenda Jackson (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)Department Debates - View all Glenda Jackson's debates with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
(10 years, 5 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Mr Hague
As ever, my right hon. Friend goes straight to the point on this important issue. The article he mentions by His Highness Prince Turki helps to demonstrate that in many nations across the middle east—including powerful nations—there is a real appetite for that peace process, and for bringing the cycle of violence that hon. Members across the House are deploring to an end. That should be heard clearly by leaders in Israel and among Palestinians as they make decisions over the coming weeks.
Glenda Jackson (Hampstead and Kilburn) (Lab)
It is generally accepted that there can be no military solution to this or any other conflict, and I believe it is accepted by Hamas and Israel that there can be no military solution. The Secretary of State referred my right hon. Friend the Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire South (Mr Alexander) to the role played by Egypt in the past conflict. What pressure is being brought on the new Egyptian Government—if indeed both sides are prepared to listen to what they have to say and will sit around a table with them to end this utterly pointless and scandalous destruction of human life, particularly women and children?
Mr Hague
The hon. Lady is right to say that both Hamas and Israel know there is no military solution, and right to point to the important role that Egypt can play. I would not express it as “pressure” on Egypt—Egypt is a sovereign state that will make its own decisions in its own national interest and hopefully the interests of the wider region, but I have discussed this matter with the Foreign Minister of Egypt. The Egyptian Government at the time of the last ceasefire had much closer links with Hamas than the Egyptian Government do today, so the situation is a little different in that regard—[Interruption.] Those on the Opposition Front Bench say that that may be an understatement, and it is a deliberate understatement on my part. It is a different situation, and that is why the role of other Arab states becomes even more important, and that is why we are talking to many of them about the role they can play in bringing about an agreed ceasefire.