Middle East: Recent Developments

Lord Watson of Invergowrie Excerpts

Friday 13th July 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Watson of Invergowrie]

My Lords, we are indebted to the Minister not just for providing the canvas for this debate but for so expertly opening it by sketching his own thoughts in such an illuminating manner. I should like to concentrate on two aspects of the Middle East, the first of which is Bahrain. In February last year, as the Arab spring spread, more than 100,000 protesters took to the streets of the capital, Manama. The Bahraini Government—for whom we should always read the Bahraini royal family—responded brutally. Four protesters camping in Pearl roundabout were killed, yet, despite that, protesters reoccupied the roundabout and there were large marches involving up to 150,000 participants. These numbers are put in perspective when it is recalled that, in total, there are fewer than 1 million Bahraini nationals.

In March 2011, at the request of the Government, Saudi armed forces entered the country, which those opposed to the regime characterised as an occupation. The following day, a state of emergency was declared and protests subsided after a savage crackdown was launched against protesters. More than 3,000 people were arrested and at least five people died while in police custody. Many of those not directly involved in the protests, such as doctors and bloggers, were targeted and arrested. Some doctors and other medical staff were subjected to torture on the basis that they had done no more than tend the injuries of protesters brutalised by the regime’s own forces and the Saudi forces. It has been estimated by Human Rights Watch that up to 50 people have died since the start of the uprising. Of course, those numbers pale into insignificance compared to Syria but that is not a meaningful comparison.

Meanwhile, doctors have been charged with serious offences and convicted, and have received long sentences—despite the evidence against them rather than because of it. It is surely a doctor’s obligation to try and save lives and there are no circumstances when any medic should be subject to the charges simply for doing so. An international outcry followed the outrageously long sentences handed down to the medics. That even included the USA. In April, Amnesty International published a detailed report on events in Bahrain since February 2011. It was a damning indictment of the so-called reforms introduced by the royal family since then. The report highlighted the killing of civilians, deaths and torture in custody, trials of political activists lacking the basics of a serious judicial system leading to death sentences being passed—thankfully later commuted—and workers and students who participated in the protests being summarily dismissed from their jobs or courses of study. A month ago, the Court of Appeal in Manama upheld the convictions of nine medics and nine others were acquitted. These outcomes, though far from satisfactory, would never have happened but for the intervention by the UN, US and other countries, including the UK, to let the Bahraini royal family know that they had used greatly excessive force in quelling what were legitimate attempts by the Shia majority to win democratic reforms at the expense of the ruling Sunni minority.

I very much welcomed the Minister’s opening remarks on Bahrain. He said that progress had been minimal and that that was not good enough. He said that there was a need for meaningful political reforms. He also said that there had been criticism from some quarters—I am not sure where it came from—of the Government’s engagement in relation to Bahrain. I certainly would not criticise the Government for it. They have intervened and made strong statements. I hope the Minister will confirm today that the Government will go further and continue to pressure the Bahraini royal family to implement the kind of changes that were called for in Egypt, Libya, Syria and Tunisia. Human rights, the right to freedom of expression and the ability to choose their political representatives must not be seen as the preserve simply of people living under regimes with which our Government disagree. Just because we have traditionally had good relations with Bahrain must not mean that these fundamental fights can be relegated to the fringes of our relations with them.

Turning to Israel and Palestine, I find the situation there profoundly depressing. The noble Baroness, Lady Blackstone, has already commented on it in some considerable detail. The quartet has now been in existence for 10 years, with Tony Blair as its special envoy for half that time, yet no meaningful progress has been made towards a peace settlement. It may be true, as the noble Baroness suggested, that the quartet is now a busted flush. Certainly, it could be argued that a peace settlement is further away now than it was in 2002. In September last year, the quartet issued a new schedule for resumption of negotiations between the Israeli Government and the Palestinian Authority which called for negotiations to be completed by the end of 2012. Suffice to say, that will not happen, not least because the Netanyahu Government continue to ignore international outrage—with merely mild displeasure being expressed by the UK and US Governments—at the continuation of Israel to build illegal housing developments in the West Bank. That matter was again covered by the noble Baroness.

Last month saw a return to violence between the Israeli Defence Force and Hamas militants, which is very much to be regretted. I unreservedly call on both sides not to repeat that violence. All the while, on the Palestinian side, there is a continuing gulf between Fatah and Hamas. In April 2011, the two parties signed an agreement of reconciliation but its implementation has stalled since then. Legislative and presidential elections were both due to take place in the occupied territories in May this year but, following a breakdown in reconciliation talks between the two, elections have now been postponed. It seems unlikely that they will be held before the end of the year.

My noble friend Lord Haskel made remarks in his speech with which I have to take some issue. I would agree that we need to ensure that compassion for Palestinians does not translate into what he termed bigotry against Israel. I would reject the charge that I have ever approached any question relating to Israel in a bigoted way. Yet this is important. My noble friend highlighted the benefits of trade in the Israeli context. I have only had a few moments since his speech to do some very brief research into the question of trade as far as Palestinians are concerned but it is vital to Palestinians.

According to a study last year by the UN Conference on Trade and Development, West Bank trade remains largely isolated from global markets due to restrictions imposed by Israel on the movement of goods. According to the World Bank, the absence of container scanners at the six commercial crossing points between the West Bank and Israel constrains Palestinian access to external markets and means that all cargo is subject to physical inspections. That means the loading and unloading of lorries, sometimes more than once. Often, the food and vegetables involved are delayed for so long that they become unsalable. I cannot see how those sorts of restrictions will in any way help the Palestinians to help themselves. When we talk about trade, it has to be recalled that fuel is a vital commodity, yet the Palestinians are forced to import fuel via Israel. If they could import it via Jordan, that would cut the price by half—to the clear benefit of Palestinian communities. That must be borne in mind.

Of course, the biggest restriction on Palestinians is the blockade of Gaza, which entered its sixth year just a few weeks ago. Coinciding with that milestone, a report by Save the Children and Medical Aid for Palestinians emphasised how the extensive restrictions placed on the movement of goods and people in and out of Gaza continues to have a real and negative impact on the lives and health of Gaza’s children. The blockade has been the single greatest contributor to endemic and long-lasting household poverty in Gaza. That has meant that families are unable to buy nutritious food and less able to produce it themselves.

The health of children in Gaza prior to the war of 2008-09 was seriously below international standards but is now worse. The Save the Children report states that long-term exposure to chronic malnutrition remains high: it is found among 10% of children under five. The Palestinian Authority has set goals to meet the needs of its children and spends some 11% of its GDP on healthcare. That is more than most middle-income countries. In addition, hundreds of millions of dollars of international aid are directed towards the occupied Palestinian territories every year, yet still child health in Gaza continues to get poorer.

I will not deny that Israel has of course the right to safeguard the security of its citizens but, as the occupying power, it must also allow for the free flow of goods, people and services. According to international laws, Israel is responsible for the welfare of Gaza’s civilian population. With the blockade now having been in place for more than five years, will the Minister agree that there is a pressing need for the coalition Government to call on Israel, in the strongest possible terms, to fulfil its responsibilities and end the blockade of Gaza immediately and in its entirety?