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Debate on the Address

My Lords, I am sorry that I cannot take part in the defence procurement debate. However, I agree strongly with the many speakers today who have said that the conflict of Israel and Palestine, with its overspill into Lebanon, holds the key to world peace. I therefore welcome the emphasis on this in the gracious Speech and in part, at least, of what the Prime Minister said recently at the Mansion House. It is in the interests of Israel, the Palestinian Authority and people, the Arab states and the rest of the world to bring military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza to an end and to work for long-term resolution. The economic development of the whole Middle East, including, for example, Gaza’s offshore gas, is held back by instability and excessive military spending. I heard, as some of your Lordships may have done, the king of Jordan speaking earlier this month in this Palace and saying that progress towards peace was crucial in the coming six months. If stagnation continued, he indicated, his country faced being surrounded by civil wars in Lebanon and the West Bank, as well as in Iraq. That is one especially acute local perception. The wider world interest is to make progress to remedy a situation which gives a pretext for action to every violent jihadist, wherever he or she may live. The difficult part is to get down to the details and make progress on particular points. I should like to emphasise the helpful role of Egypt and Jordan. They could form a mini quartet, working with Israel and the Palestinian Authority. I wish to underline the importance of confidence-building measures. The most obvious starting point concerns prisoners and detainees. Generous moves by Israel on releasing women and children, old, sick and long-serving prisoners, would provide strong incentives to the organisations now holding a handful of Israeli military prisoners. There are also the detained Hamas MPs and, of course, the Gaza crossing points of Karni, Rafah and Erez. Unless these are open, Gaza is just a fenced-in prison. There are also the foreign passport holders and the foreign spouses, all of them resident in the occupied Palestinian territories. These people are providing employment and developing the battered economy. Regularising their position would help prevent those territories sliding still further in the direction of Somalia. Releasing customs and VAT money would also make a huge contribution to stability. The biggest confidence-building measure of all may well be a hudna, which was mentioned by the noble Lord, Lord Alderdice. It is important that everyone understands the full meaning and significance of this word. As long ago as the 14th century, Ibn al-Mansur defined haadana as meaning ““he made peace””. Hudna is the noun which derives from this verb. It can mean more than just ““ceasefire””. In 2001, an Israeli businessman proposed that the concept be applied to the affairs of his region. In 2003, Hamas and Islamic Jihad unilaterally declared a 45-day hudna. In January 2004, a senior Hamas leader, since killed, offered a 10-year hudna in return for complete withdrawal from the Occupied Territories. More recently, there has been talk of a 10-year hudna to allow for negotiation of issues arising from 1967 onwards, to be followed by a much more long-term hudna for negotiation of post-1948 issues. Such thinking deserves very serious consideration, since it comes from Hamas, whose acronym means also ““zeal””, and stems from the Muslim Brotherhood. If a hudna of whatever length were backed up by a religious fatwa, it would have a strong, binding moral force. The history of hudnas among Muslim peoples shows that they are very seldom broken and that they imply an obligation to negotiate, therefore giving at least de facto recognition of the enemy or opponent. A note to me from your Lordships’ Library states that a hudna obliges the parties to seek permanent, non-violent resolution of their differences. It would be ideal if the other significant militant groups could be associated with Hamas in a hudna. I conclude that it is no longer sufficient or satisfactory just to say ““Everyone must get back to the road map””. Too much has happened since that was first proposed. What is needed is maximum diplomatic effort to achieve ceasefires and an early start to negotiations on the most urgent issues. Will Her Majesty's Government initiate this, working with the European Union, the Arab League and the United Nations to persuade the United States and Israel? These two states are the most capable of starting helpful movement. Neutral states, including the Vatican diplomatic service, should be involved, too. Diplomatic effort should be backed up by inter-religious dialogue, in particular among the great monotheistic faiths of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Both Israel and Palestine have large diasporas which can play a constructive part. Despite the difficulties, religious and civil dialogue across the existing barriers and boundaries is urgently needed. I look forward to the Government's reply; first and foremost, on the diplomatic effort required, and, secondly, on the use of the economic and other incentives that we and our European Union partners already possess.