Reconstructing Gaza

Simon Hughes Excerpts

Monday 8th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Alistair Burt)]

I congratulate the hon. Member for Cambridge (Dr Huppert)—my hon. Friend now—on securing the debate. I appreciate not only what he said but the way in which he said it, and I thoroughly enjoyed his contribution. It was made better by the fact that he did not have to squeeze it into the usual time and could extend it. I thank him for the great courtesy of giving me the outline of his speech earlier, because, at their best, Adjournment debates are not ambushes but an opportunity for colleagues who share many opinions and concerns to inform each other, the House, yourself, Mr Deputy Speaker, and the public of what we are about.

I also thank the hon. Member for Bolton South East (Yasmin Qureshi) for her contribution. Both contributions indicated the importance of travel. Occasionally, the House has to defend itself against those who think that every time we step outside our own shores, it is for purposes connected more with us than with what we are about. The descriptions that both colleagues gave of their personal experiences, and those of my hon. Friends the Members for Gloucester (Richard Graham) and for Bradford East (Mr Ward), who accompanied the hon. Member for Cambridge on his visit to Gaza, were good examples of how important it sometimes is to see things on the ground, so that we can report them faithfully to the House. I see my long-standing friend, my hon. Friend the Member for Bermondsey and Old Southwark (Simon Hughes), in his place. He will know of the many times that we went to South Africa together in the difficult days of the 1980s. We hope that our personal experience of going there when many others could not made a difference to discussions in the House.

[Simon Hughes (Bermondsey and Old Southwark) (LD)]

I am grateful to my very good friend the Minister for that kindness.

In probably every constituency in the United Kingdom, and certainly every urban one, there are people who daily worry about the future of Palestine, Israel, Gaza and the middle east. We therefore have a particular responsibility to be informed. I have been twice to the west bank and Israel, although I have not been to Gaza. The faith groups want us to do that, and Britain has a historical responsibility to be as engaged as possible—not just Government but Parliament. My hon. Friend is absolutely right that we are right to go and right to put the matter on the agenda in the House.

[Alistair Burt]

Yes, indeed, and the number of letters that I deal with from colleagues expressing the concerns of their constituents certainly confirms what my hon. Friend says.

I applaud the aim of the hon. Member for Cambridge, following his recent visit and that of his colleagues, to ensure that eight new UNRWA schools are built in Gaza. Like him, I welcome the recent announcement that that will be done. The situation in Gaza continues to cause the Government concern, and it was high on the Foreign Secretary’s agenda during his recent visit to Israel and the occupied territories. I hope to explain in my remarks what action the Government are taking to reconstruct and stabilise Gaza, and why that matters to the middle east peace process.

To begin with, I should like to set out the scale of the reconstruction challenge in Gaza and explain briefly how we got where we are. Although we agree with the hon. Gentleman that there is no longer a humanitarian crisis as such in Gaza, the situation there remains extremely fragile and could deteriorate very quickly. Despite Israel’s welcome announcement on 20 June of measures to help ease access restrictions, we remain worried about what the UN has termed the “de-development” of Gaza, with the economy, institutions and skill base steadily eroding.

Although I am not tempted to go back to 1286, it is impossible to consider the current issues in Gaza without recognising the historical context and noting the tragedy of the people of Gaza, caught up in the generations-old dispute concerning Israel and Palestine. After years of occupation, and much international criticism, Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, pursuing its policy of swapping land for peace and evicting a number of settlers and settlements. The UK, along with international partners, welcomed the withdrawal as a positive step towards meeting Israel’s road map commitments. We also pushed hard for Israel to co-ordinate with the Palestinian Authority on the aftermath of withdrawal.

However, far from being freed, Gaza’s population found itself the battleground for a gradually intensifying dispute between Fatah and Hamas for the control of the land. Hamas’s repressive control of Gaza gradually tightened. Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was kidnapped in 2006, kept completely incommunicado for many years and denied Red Cross access, and he is still detained. Hamas violently ousted Fatah from the Gaza strip in 2007, leading Israel to declare Gaza a “hostile entity”. A regular barrage of rockets directed towards southern Israel began. Israeli Government statistics claim that in 2005 Hamas and other Palestinian groups launched about 850 rockets and mortars at Israel from Gaza. By 2008 that figure had climbed past 2,000.

Although I heard and understood the hon. Gentleman’s point about responding differently to those who win elections with policies that we may not like, equally, those who wish to play a serious part in deciding the future of a people need to know that an acceptance and encouragement of violence, and a refusal to accept the existence of the state of Israel, will result only in closed doors, and rightly so.

A downward spiral of restricted access, the cutting of fuel supplies and retaliatory violence prompted aid agencies to describe the situation in Gaza in early 2008 as the worst since the 1967 Yom Kippur war. As hon. Members know full well, a shaky ceasefire was not renewed towards the end of 2008. Militants in Gaza fired barrages of rockets at Israel, and Israel responded by launching Operation Cast Lead. The conduct of both sides in that war is the subject of a number of inquiries and is not for this debate. However, the consequences for the people of Gaza have been severe.

To prevent the rebuilding of supplies of arms, Israel ensured a tight blockade of Gaza. The UK Government understand and support Israel’s right to protect itself. However, to come to one of the hon. Gentleman’s key points, we were, and are, less persuaded that the economic blockade that was simultaneously imposed would be of any benefit to Israel, and we share the hon. Gentleman’s assessment. The fact that the economy of Gaza has been so reduced that 80% of Gaza’s population is in receipt of food aid, and that unemployment is calculated at 40% for adults and 60% for youth, has not produced serious political gain for Israel or ruin for Hamas, but simply added to the misery of the people. We do indeed call on Israel to rethink that part of its policy, which would not undercut its concern on security, and might indeed, for reasons that have been outlined, assist its security. We make that case regularly to Israel, and we will continue to do so.

Following Operation Cast Lead and resolution 1860, the international community lobbied Israel hard on the need to allow access for humanitarian and reconstruction relief to Gaza. However, it was not until after the flotilla incident earlier this year that international pressure made a difference, and Israel announced on 20 June measures to ease controls on goods entering Gaza. We welcomed that announcement and the Israelis’ subsequent implementation on 5 July of a move from a list of permitted items to a list of banned and dual-use items. The latter step resulted in an increase in the variety and volume of goods entering Gaza.

Further steps have been taken by Israel, including procedures to allow the entry of dual-use items, such as building materials, into Gaza, and I will come to that key point a little later. The Government of Israel are also taking steps to improve access for Palestinian business people into and out of Gaza. We welcome those steps and acknowledge that the volume and range of goods entering Gaza has increased in recent months.

I spoke this morning to John Ging, and I very much echo the hon. Gentleman’s appreciation of his work. I had the pleasure of meeting John during the summer to help me understand the area for which I now have responsibility. He tells me that the consumer goods picture is much improved. Indeed, he estimates that there is only 20% of the tunnel traffic that there was. Once again, we share the hon. Gentleman’s perception. Tunnel traffic simply became a source of revenue to Hamas and to criminals and appears to have done little damage to Hamas politically.

However, John Ging also said that the situation in terms of construction material remains dire. He cannot find what he needs to tackle the under-resourcing of school building. We share his welcome, and that of the hon. Gentleman and other colleagues, for the eight school projects, but they will not satisfy the demand of 40,000 children. Once again, I echo the hon. Gentleman’s point. If UNRWA, with the support of the international community, is not seen to, and cannot, provide the development that is needed, yet Hamas and its allies can provide it because of access to materials through routes other than the official crossing, who will get the blame and who will get the support?

It is possible that it is not any political ill will that is affecting the delivery of construction material specifically orientated towards UNRWA, and UNRWA must, rightly, be held responsible should any material go missing and assist Hamas. However, John Ging informs me that there is a significant capacity issue, which hon. Members have mentioned. I understand there are sheer logistical difficulties in getting more material through the existing crossing. To that extent, therefore, reopening other crossings may assist, and we certainly intend to take that up, although we appreciate that it requires serious consideration and cost to Israel. The gain, however, may make it well worth while.

It is not just schools. The sewerage system needs serious work to stop untreated sewage entering the Mediterranean. Some 90% of mains water is undrinkable. As I indicated, 80% of the population is dependent on food aid. It is also vital, therefore, to take steps to revive Gaza’s economy, including allowing exports and the movement of people. That is key to ensuring Israel’s long-term security interests. The empowerment of Gaza’s legitimate, non-Hamas controlled business community will act as a counterweight to radicalisation.

--- Later in debate ---

[Alistair Burt]

As I indicated earlier, we know there are capacity problems, but in the main we believe that aid gets through. I do not think it is fair for people to feel that, if they send it through a recognised source, sometimes it all just sits there. There were more issues with that in the past, but we have found, since the flotilla incident, that the Israelis are genuinely moving more goods through, and have responded to the concerns. There might be individual instances of hold-up, and where that happens all pressure should be applied, However, there is a logistical problem with the amount of aid, to which I just referred, and the hon. Lady was right to pick up on that.

I made the point about ensuring that if the business elite in Gaza are given the opportunity to develop and grow, and handle things themselves, they can be a counterweight to radicalisation. John Ging made an interesting point to me this morning. He said that the closing of the tunnels, with more goods travelling through official routes, has not met with what might have been anticipated, which was an aggressive response from militants seeking to disrupt official traffic. They have gone along with it, partly because, we think, the business community and others have made it clear that they want to see the official channels open and will not accept the militants and extremists getting in the way of the development of the economy. That is good news for those who believe that the economy is the key to the future of Gaza.

There are issues on the Palestinian side, however, that also need improvement. The Department for International Development is working closely with the Palestinian Authority to help increase its co-ordination of goods into Gaza and to speed up the approvals process. I would like to reiterate the call for Hamas to release Gilad Shalit, because it is clearly unacceptable that he remains in captivity after four years. The Foreign Secretary met the Shalit family during his visit to Israel and heard their experiences at first hand. I also call on Hamas to end its interference in humanitarian operations in Gaza.

I am sure that hon. Members would agree, following the remarks of the hon. Member for Cambridge, that there are sobering facts on the ground, and that reconstructing Gaza will require vast amounts of reconstruction and development support. He concluded by asking what the British Government are doing and what more we intend to do to fulfil resolution 1860 and other requirements. The United Kingdom should play, and is playing, its part, primarily through aid provided by DFID. We are providing basic services to Palestinian refugees through funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. Some 70% of Gazans are refugees who rely heavily on it. Last week the Minister of State for International Development, who was on a visit to the west bank, announced an additional £8 million for UNRWA, bringing our total support for 2010 to £27 million.

Turning to the Gazan economy, we have just announced a further £2 million in new funding to support the recovery of Gaza’s dormant and damaged private sector, which was laid waste after Operation Cast Lead. That will help 300 existing businesses and four start-ups to generate an additional $5 million in revenue and employ an extra 2,200 people. Finally, we are funding the United Nations and Palestinian Authority teams working to facilitate access to imports in Gaza.

[Simon Hughes]

The Minister referred to the severe problems with good water supplies and the offshore pollution along the coastal strip. Will he say whether the Government are working with others to deal with what is both an environmental and a health crisis? Clearly we cannot deal with it on our own, but is that on the agenda of DFID or his Department? Clearly, not much has been satisfactorily achieved so far, so what more can we do?

[Alistair Burt]

So as not to flannel my hon. Friend, I should give a better response when I have spoken to colleagues in DFID. I know that the problem that he raises is a serious one, and it is also caught with the problem of construction materials, which are vital to do the work that is necessary for the sewerage system and the like.