Israel/Gaza

Lord Archbishop of Canterbury Excerpts

Tuesday 24th October 2023 Lords Chamber

[The Archbishop of Canterbury]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for his eloquent and powerful opening speech. In it, he set out the complexity of the situation that is being faced. One of the great dangers of such complexity is that we seek to find simple answers and there are none.

In a recent trip—I got back on Sunday—to Jerusalem, meeting large numbers from both sides, it was perfectly obvious that there were a number of factors that we need to bear in mind. One was the raised prestige of the United Kingdom, owing to its solid support; tribute is owing to the Foreign Office, to the Foreign Secretary, to the Ministers with him, and to the Prime Minister for his determination and courage. Tribute is also owed to the leader of the Opposition, who has set such a clear example of cross-party support.

Secondly, the innumerable deaths on 7 October and the taking of over 200 hostages have created a situation of trauma in Israel that is hard to exaggerate. I am very glad to hear that the Foreign Office has been meeting with relatives. On Sunday morning, I spent time with families who had lost eight members of their family; they talked about the first pogrom on Israeli territory and their absolute shock. I spoke with a family whose son had been killed on 7 October—a British-Israeli soldier called Yosef. He had been married—and I spoke with his wife at length—for one year and three days. He gave his life against overwhelming odds, as wave after wave of terrorists sought to kill people in one of the kibbutzes. I wonder whether the Government are considering—given that he was a British citizen—what official recognition of his supreme courage can be offered. As well as that, there was—although huge anger—an absence of hate from those families. That dignity that they are showing is the first ray of light to which I will refer in this speech, in a situation of almost unredeemed darkness. Are the Government working to ensure not only that every effort—as they have already said—is being given to negotiating the release of the hostages but that it is one effort and not a disparate set of efforts, which would reduce its effectiveness?

From there, on Friday evening and Saturday, I saw the religious leaders—the Christian leaders of the Holy Land. Two or three things were visible. First, they literally sat shoulder to shoulder, on the day after the Al-Ahli destruction, with the extraordinary Anglican Archbishop Hosam Naoum—it is an Anglican hospital —and surrounded him with their support as he spoke of the need for peace and reconciliation, with the knowledge of his friends who had died. The hospital, which I visited in 2019 and opened a section of, and which has been so badly damaged—that visible sign of unity—is a second ray of light. Will the Government consider supporting that hospital in its rebuilding—financially, not just with words?

Will they also make it clear that the Christian community is essential to the Holy Land, for the other great message I got is that they believe this may be the end of their existence, after 2,000 years? They are caught between the upper and the nether millstone.

That brings us to the Palestinians in the West Bank. The Minister made absolutely clear his horror at the huge number—over 74 when I heard on Saturday from their representatives—murdered, almost entirely unarmed, almost entirely by settlers in illegal settlements in Area C. That strengthens Hamas and weakens the Palestinian Authority. Can that be in the interests of a long-term peace?

Fourthly, we turn to that question of the objectives of the war. The hopes of peace and reconciliation are set not only after a military victory but by how that victory is achieved. The more heavy the casualties, the less chance there is of renewed peace, and Gaza has gone from level to level of violence over the last 15 years. War conducted with that aim is not fair.

The noble Lord, Lord Turnberg—or it may have been the noble Lord, Lord Campbell; both spoke so eloquently—said quite rightly that this is not a question of fairness. But there is no equivalence between Israel and Hamas. The latter is a terrorist organisation; the former is a legitimate state whose citizens since 1945 have written many of the laws of war. They know how to do this. May they be encouraged, and continue to be encouraged, by Governments around the world, by the success of David Satterfield—President Biden’s brilliant envoy—and by pressure from our Government and others, which has opened the way for more than 50 trucks to go into Gaza. That is a huge success.

My final point, though, is about the innocent sufferers. I visited two institutions on Saturday morning. One was a hospital linked to Al-Ahli, the other the Princess Basma school, 30% of whose members are deeply disabled children. The hospital cannot get children out of Gaza for chemotherapy, let alone for treatment of the wounds they have received. It cannot get children out. Can there be a corridor of sanctuary, at least on a temporary basis, to enable them to get the treatment without which they will die very rapidly? It is difficult. The call for a formal ceasefire is probably beyond hope, but can there be that humanitarian action? Can the children with autism and other extreme disabilities be allowed to come out so that they can attend school and not be in the midst of a war? What that does to them is beyond imagination.

I am well over my time; please excuse me. I want to say that the work done by our Government has been remarkable. It continues to be, but the international community must not again act disparately, with a series of Heads of State and other politicians emerging on the scene, sometimes for their own reasons. It must be a united effort with the United Nations and the ICRC. The United Nations has lost over 50 people, killed in the last two and a half weeks in Gaza. May we pay tribute to those who are taking such risks, sacrificing their lives for the future, and continue to hope that these two rays of light, of unity and of dignity, seen on both sides, may lead to peace and reconciliation before too long.