Israel and Palestine: Balfour Declaration

Lord Bishop of Exeter Excerpts

Wednesday 28th November 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Wallace of Saltaire]

My Lords, I reread the Balfour Declaration before I came in and it is a masterpiece of diplomatic drafting. It is not entirely clear and has a number of deliberate ambiguities within it. Her Majesty’s Government are very concerned to bring pressure to bear on all those who have a stake in the negotiations, including the Governments of Israel and the United States, to exert all their efforts now to restart the negotiations. I stress again that time is not entirely with us. We wish to avoid a situation in which opinion in the US Congress, or perhaps right-wing opinion in Israel in an election campaign, might lead to a demand for retaliation for recognition of Palestinian statehood. We are therefore doing our best to promote the two sides being brought together rather than have them score points against each other.

[The Lord Bishop of Exeter]

My Lords, does the Minister not recognise that, in the interests of peace in the Middle East, Palestinians need to be supported in finding legitimate, non-violent alternatives to the rockets that have been raining in from Hamas on southern Israel? Does he not see that tomorrow’s seeking of some formal recognition falls into that category? Does he not recognise that, if we are not to see Palestinians sign up to a cause to die for, we have to give them hope to live for?