Middle East

Lord Hylton Excerpts

Friday 16th March 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hylton]

My Lords, I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Soley, about the importance of soft power in the Middle East. I trust that this debate will help new thoughts and insights and moral imagination to emerge concerning the Middle East. I will concentrate on two aspects: Syria and the future for the Palestinian and other refugees.

The terrible situation in Syria has been sufficiently described today that I do not need to repeat its details. In that context, however, it is good that 60 countries have declared themselves as friends of Syria. But an assembly of such large numbers is far too large to make practical plans to bring about a ceasefire or to facilitate political negotiations. What is surely needed is a much smaller regional group of those most immediately involved. Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq are the close neighbours, where many Syrians have taken refuge. Israel and Iran also have very direct interests, as do Russia and the United States. It may not be possible for such a small regional group to meet, but perhaps Mr Kofi Annan could receive the views of these neighbours on behalf of the United Nations and act as a link with the Syrian authorities. I would be grateful for the Government’s thoughts on such an approach, which has not so far been tried. I hope that no one will react with horror at the mention of Iran. Its inclusion might just possibly generate some more reasonable attitudes to other issues.

I come now to the Palestinians. They are just as much entitled to self-determination as any other people. I say this whether they are now living in east Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza or in exile nearby. There are in fact some 6 million Palestinian refugees, mainly in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. For reasons of balance and justice, we should also think about those Jews who were expelled from Middle Eastern countries, or who left voluntarily but without compensation for their properties. Most of them, although not all, are now safely settled in Israel.

These thoughts have a direct bearing on the much-debated question of the right of return. Because of the limited capacity of both Israel and the West Bank, let alone Gaza, to absorb further people, the right of return may have to be strictly limited to spouses, parents and children. Family reunion may have to be kept for the closest relationships. Those Palestinians not eligible for family reunion should be offered a choice: either to remain in their present host country, with, if possible, citizenship; or to accept resettlement in a state that welcomes immigrants. The process of resettlement should be made easier by compensation for lost or abandoned properties.

On this compensation and resettlement, I suggest that there should be symmetry and that each side should be responsible for its own people. Jewish organisations and funds would thus compensate the surviving Jews who left Middle Eastern countries without compensation for their properties. Arab states and funds would compensate Palestinians who left their homes, again without compensation. Even after compensation, many Palestinians would be left who did not wish to remain in the host country and who could not return to mandated Palestine. These will, of course, include many descendants of the original refugees. They would have to become the responsibility of the richer and more developed parts of the world, and need help to move to states open to settlement. Such moves would be to the long-term benefit of the receiving states. They would also remove from the Middle East a large number of unassimilated people whose very existence has caused tension and strife.

I accept that solutions of these kinds would be difficult, but I hope not an impossible task. The key might be to help people of working age to move, in family groups, with their old and young dependants. Refugees, including those from Iraq, for whom the West has a heavy responsibility, are the elephant in the room—everyone prefers to look the other way. Now we cannot afford to ignore it any more. So let us have the vision to turn a festering problem into a situation where everybody wins.