Middle East

Lord Palmer of Childs Hill Excerpts

Wednesday 10th June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Lemos (Lab)]

The Government do not support the prisoner payments, as I am sure the noble Lord knows, and we have addressed that issue directly with the Palestinian Authority, so we hope that that is not going to continue. On the wider point, though, I sense that what the noble Lord is really asking me is whether we should require more of the Palestinian Authority before we part with large sums of money, and so on. To be direct about that, my answer is that we are committed to the two-state solution. The Palestinian Authority needs our support. Without that, there is no prospect for the two-state solution, including change in the approach to settlements on the West Bank. I know it is not comfortable; I am not pretending it is. I am not suggesting that this is all straightforward, and he knows I am not, but we feel that we should get behind the Palestinian Authority, within reasonable bounds.

[Lord Palmer of Childs Hill (LD)]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for replying to these questions. I will focus on Lebanon. There is talk about how the Lebanese army and the Lebanese Government should do this and do that, but can the Minister tell us how the Governments of the UK have reduced aid to Lebanon? It is all right talking about what they should do, but the Lebanese army has had its aid reduced. The problem with Lebanon in a nutshell is that Hezbollah is very active in the south of Lebanon and the north of Israel, and no one is talking about the Israeli villages and kibbutzim in northern Israel, which are evacuated and under attack. What Israel is doing, rightly or wrongly, is defending the people of northern Israel. What is needed is that Hezbollah should do what was agreed originally: it should stay on the Beirut side of the Litani River. If it stayed on the Beirut side of the Litani River, there would be less contact and less reason for Israel to attack. Can the Minister please help us by telling us how we can resolve this?

[Lord Lemos (Lab)]

On the question about Hezbollah, I think I have made the Government’s view clear. On the question about our support for Lebanon, we have provided, as I think the noble Lord knows, a great deal of financial assistance over many years to the Lebanese Government and the Lebanese army, and we are still committed to supporting them. He knows, as we all know, what the pressures are in terms of development aid and the decisions the Government have taken; but I do not think it would be fair to say that the Government have not supported the Lebanese Government. On the question about northern Israel, of course we want to see territorial integrity in those communities, and we understand the pressures they are under, but we want to see territorial integrity in the whole neighbourhood.