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Middle East and Afghanistan

My Lords, I am grateful to the Government for giving the House a long overdue opportunity for a debate exclusively devoted to the Middle East and Afghanistan. Many of your Lordships will no doubt have decided to concentrate on the dangerous and critical situation in Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon and on our relations with Syria and Iran. It will not surprise many noble Lords if, like the right reverend Prelate, I choose to concentrate on the situation and prospects for relations between Israel and the Palestinians, not only because the gracious Speech rightly accorded this long-standing problem high priority in the Government’s foreign policy agenda, but also because I believe that we are at a critical and important moment when there are or should be real prospects for progress towards a lasting and fair peace settlement. It is arguable that the simultaneous crises in Iraq, Gaza and Lebanon now present opportunities as well as challenges. There are signs that not only moderate Arab states, such as Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, but also Israel and even Syria are looking afresh at ways to ease the interconnected tensions in both Palestine and Iraq. Many of us in this House have argued, as I do again today, that a fair and balanced approach to the Palestinian problem is a central and essential pillar, not only for the many problems that threaten our interests in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon and elsewhere in the Middle East, but also for our relationships with the wider Muslim world and within our own domestic communities. I hope that when the Prime Minister meets President Bush in Washington this week he will not allow the very timely discussions that they will no doubt have on future policy on Iraq to divert them from the urgent need to address the critical situation in Israel and Palestine—the ““regional context”” of Iraq's problems, as an editorial in yesterday's Financial Times put it. Both the Israelis and the Palestinians have suffered enough. Surely it is time for the quartet to revive and intensify its efforts to return to the road map, even if the route is changing. Continuing violence by both sides across the borders of Gaza has too easily diverted attention from the wider suffering and deprivation of the Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem and, of course, Bethlehem. That includes their continuing economic hardship; their lack of access to education, employment and health treatment, caused by restrictions on movement and border crossings; the intrusive construction of the so-called security fence, which has divided Palestinian families and blocked access to their olive groves and orchards; and the continuing expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank and around Jerusalem. I do not want to focus solely on the dreadful suffering and bitter resentment caused by continuing Israeli occupation and annexation of Palestinian land. It is encouraging that voices can now increasingly be heard from private individuals on both sides calling for a peaceful settlement and the end of occupation. Three positive developments in the past few weeks are worth noting. First, there was the unilateral announcement of a ceasefire in Gaza by Hamas and the consequent call by the Israeli Prime Minister for restraint on the part of the Israeli Defence Forces. Secondly, there was an important and potentially historic speech by Ehud Olmert on 27 November, to which the noble Baroness, Lady Symons of Vernham Dean, referred, in which he not only made a conditional promise to release numerous Palestinian prisoners, but committed himself to implement the road map by working for an independent and contiguous Palestinian state. Thirdly, Prime Minister Olmert called for the assistance of neighbouring Arab states, including Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, to achieve a fair and lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians—a call that seems, to those of us who had the privilege of hearing King Abdullah of Jordan speaking in the Robing Room a month ago, likely to receive a positive response. Indeed, all of us who heard King Abdullah on that occasion will have been impressed by his warning that time for a peaceful settlement is fast running out. No doubt there will be further violence and difficulties to frustrate these good intentions, not least the problems that Mahmoud Abbas is facing in trying to form a national unity Government. I believe that this is a moment when our Prime Minster has perhaps his last opportunity to use such influence as he has, or should have, with President Bush to persuade the Americans to grasp the nettle of a fair and peaceful solution to the Arab-Israel dispute by adopting and maintaining a balanced—I keep repeating that word—just and proactive policy towards both sides. Of course, there is an urgent need to relieve the economic deprivation in both Gaza and the West Bank, and I acknowledge the outstanding and generous contribution that we and our colleagues in the European Union have made towards that end. But aid is not everything. It is all the more urgent to revive the road map, to maintain and encourage a dialogue with all the parties, including Hamas, and to use our own historical connections and our diplomatic skills in the Middle East to assist the parties to fulfil their ambitions for a just and lasting peace settlement. This will require courage and concessions from all the parties. They will need firm and consistent support and encouragement, not least from the United States superpower, if we are to achieve an outcome that would be of major importance for the interests not only of Palestinians and Israelis, but of peace and stability in the wider Middle East. I find it deeply disappointing that President Bush, on his recent visit to Jordan, apparently made no attempt, as he could easily have done, to invite either Palestinians or Israelis to meet him, to show at least that he regards a Palestinian peace settlement as central to his policies in the Middle East. Mr Blair has this week a unique opportunity to persuade Mr Bush of the vital necessity of United States commitment or recommitment to the road map. I hope that he will take it. Much has been said and written about the loss of influence in the Middle East that Her Majesty’s Government have suffered because of our involvement in the tragedy of Iraq and because of our implicit failure, to which the noble Baroness, Lady Williams of Crosby, referred, to support a rapid ceasefire in Lebanon. I firmly believe—but then I would, wouldn’t I?—that our Diplomatic Service has unique strengths and experience in the Middle East and elsewhere to enable us to play an influential and vigorous role with all our friends and allies in working for the peace settlement that has eluded us for nearly 60 years. There are conflicting reports, nearly all depressing, on the effect that the forthcoming Comprehensive Spending Review is likely to have on the resources available to the Diplomatic Service—a service, I remind your Lordships, with one of the smallest budgets in Whitehall—to maintain adequate representation in our embassies and high commissions worldwide. Many of us have expressed our regret that the Diplomatic Service has already been forced to close several diplomatic posts. I hope that the Minister when he winds up the debate can give us an assurance that sufficient resources will be made available to enable our diplomats to continue not only to represent our interests in the Middle East, but to have the wherewithal to pursue a genuinely global foreign policy.