Reconstructing Gaza

Yasmin Qureshi Excerpts

Monday 8th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Yasmin Qureshi (Bolton South East) (Lab)]

I congratulate the hon. Member for Cambridge (Dr Huppert) on securing this Adjournment debate. It is an extremely important debate that needs to be had.

I went to Gaza this summer with two Members of the House of Lords. It was the first time that I had been to Gaza or anywhere in the middle east region. Like the hon. Gentleman and his colleagues, we travelled to the Rafah crossing from Egypt into Gaza, and we saw some of the tunnels as well. We spoke to people from UNRWA and saw the people living in the camps. It completely shocked me and, I think, the people with me to see almost three generations of people—grandparents, children and grandchildren: people of all different ages—who had lived in one room for more than 40 or 50 years. That surely cannot be acceptable in the 21st century. It does not matter about the rights and wrongs of Hamas, Israel and so on. We, the international community, have an obligation.

As Members probably know, under a settlement made a long time ago, people cannot extend their camps into any other space but must keep building on the land they have. There are therefore a number of layers of homes, with people in flats of up to eight floors. On each level there may be a room with a family of 10, 12 or 15 people living in it. Some 1.5 million people live in a space of 2.5 or 3 sq km of land.

I saw many people rushing off to the beaches, yet we were told that all those beaches were unsafe and polluted. They cannot be cleaned, because pipes would need to be sent out there, and no materials for reconstruction are allowed through. The only pastime that young people seem to have is going to the beach. In this country, we would never tolerate people going en masse to severely polluted beaches that were very bad for their health. A number of people in Gaza have suffered ill health precisely because they have disregarded advice, gone to the beach and gone swimming.

We spoke to people in Gaza and saw some of the schools that they have constructed. The tragedy of Gaza is that, as the hon. Gentleman said, there is money there. It is not like some parts of the world where there is no money and no finance, and nothing can be done. The money is there, but Israel has imposed embargoes that do not allow anything to be exported or imported properly. In some respects Israel is kicking itself, because if goods were allowed to come in properly and the money could be used to rebuild schools, hospitals and other institutions, it would create an enormous number of jobs and the economy would prosper. Trade with other people would be possible.

Historically, the best way for countries to negotiate or become friendly has often been through trade. That is often the most peaceful way for countries to build better relationships. By not allowing trade and reconstruction, Israel is hurting itself. It is important that the siege is lifted and reconstruction can start. That will be better for everyone concerned.