Davey on Israel-Palestine

2.00.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Sat 3rd May 2008

' . . I shall focus on Israel-Palestine. . . '

[Apr 30] Edward Davey (Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs; Kingston & Surbiton, Liberal Democrat): I agreed with much of what the Minister said in his tour de force across the middle east. I hope he will excuse me if I do not comment on all the issues that he dealt with. I shall focus on Israel-Palestine. The Minister did not mention the Government's view on reports that Israel and Syria may be thinking about talking and actively pursuing peace negotiations. The worrying intervention by the Americans almost seemed designed to try to stop those talks at first base. Will the Minister support that initiative? It reflects some of the movement with a number of Arab states in the region, to which the hon. Member for Aylesbury (Mr. Lidington) referred.

Many of those states are concerned about the growth in the strength of Iran. We all know that one of the many damaging consequences of the Iraq war has been to strengthen the hand of Iran in the region, whether through the proliferation of their weapons of mass destruction or their influence through funding Hamas, Hezbollah and the rest. The appalling hand of Iran is all over that region, and many of the Arab states are extremely concerned about that. Many of those states are therefore willing to try to go the extra mile to persuade the Palestinians and other Arab countries that they need to act. Part of the solution to stopping Iran is to get a final settlement of the Israel-Palestine situation. Talks between Israel and Syria, which may be symbolic of the movement of many Arab states, should be supported by us. If Israel is keen to go that extra mile, it should be encouraged.

Hon. Members in all parts of the House support a two-state solution, with a Palestinian state that is genuinely viable and sustainable. That is why many will have been concerned to see the recent comments of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that she believes the window for a two-state solution is closing fast. I do not think she welcomes that at all; she is merely reflecting some of the concerns on the ground, where the strength of the moderate Palestinians is being undermined. The increasing new settlements and the existing settlements in the west bank make the geography of a Palestinian state there even more difficult, turning that territory into a Swiss cheese, in President Bush's words.

Peace talks are always urgent, but never more urgent than now. We all recognise the need to make a success of Annapolis. Hopefully, the talks of the Quartet in London tomorrow will go well. There is the prospect of a future conference in Moscow. Let us hope that that can happen. There are continuing talks promoted by Egypt to see whether there can be a ceasefire that Israel is prepared to accept. Let us hope that that happens. Whether through the Egyptian talks or otherwise, it is vital to persuade Hamas to stop firing rockets on Israel. It is equally vital that Israel is persuaded to stop the economic blockade of Gaza.

There are many barriers to progress on those fronts. The weakness of both sides in negotiations is probably the main one. If Hamas could meet the criteria of the Quartet, not least by recognising Israel and ceasing violence, that would be a major step forward, but given that that is unlikely in the immediate future, we must consider some of the small steps that can be made if the sides are to show willing.

One of those small steps relates to the economic blockade. Israel should move first on that. There is a moral case for Israel to move forward on removing parts of the blockade, particularly on health and water and sewage. In Palestine now there are lakes of untreated sewage, which are a massive health hazard and could contaminate water supplies for Israel. It is against their own interests, so I call on the Israeli Government-and on our Government to pressurise them-to enable that sewage to be dealt with urgently, through fuel supplies, electricity supplies or whatever other support is necessary. I was reading a BBC report which referred to a massive lake. If the dykes burst, there would be a tsunami of sewage, potentially swamping an area inhabited by 10,000 people. Do the Israelis want to allow that to happen? We must act on that. It is very much in the Israelis' interest to do so.

I read another report from the BBC which would be another small step towards building confidence. Former Israeli generals who had responsibility for security on the west bank, working with senior Palestinian officials, proposed dismantling checkpoints. As the Minister knows, there are 500 Israeli checkpoints and roadblocks on the west bank, which throttle the west bank economy. The report, published recently, spoke about dismantling 10 of the main ones. That could give a boost to the west bank economy and be a major step forward in promoting good will.

In the six minutes that we have to cover the middle east, those are a few brief comments, which I hope the Minister finds constructive.