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Global Security (Middle East)

I very much welcome that statement. The US has been the key player in the peace process, but we need to recognise the reality that the US is not necessarily seen as an honest broker by many Arab nations in the middle east—after the Iraq war, even more so—and it might be instructive to consider alternatives, perhaps asking the UN to take the lead in such a process. Interestingly enough, the Minister and I served on a European Standing Committee this week, and I found out much more about the Euro-Mediterranean forum, which seems to be one of the few places where we can get the Israelis, the Palestinians and the other nations around the table. It has a much wider remit, but I wonder whether a similar kind of forum—an Israeli-Palestinian congress—could be set up on an ongoing basis to provide a channel for dialogue. The Gaza situation has taken up a great deal of time in the debate. We must make it absolutely clear that the attacks by Hamas on Israel are entirely unacceptable, as is their denial of Israel's right to exist. However, we must recognise also the dire humanitarian situation, which has been referred to by many Members. The hon. Member for Regent's Park and Kensington, North (Ms Buck) spoke of the collective punishment, and the right hon. Member for Tonbridge and Malling was right to quote the headline; Gaza is essentially one big prison. The fact that the Committee could not visit Gaza demonstrates the international community's failure to respond to the conflict. Egypt's response to people breaking through the wall and obtaining basic food and supplies has been quite welcome in some ways. I say that with caution, but a heavy-handed response would have inflamed the situation. Those events underline the need for a renewed focus on solving the situation in that troubled part of the world. On Lebanon, I welcome the following conclusion by the Committee. It said:"““We conclude that the Government's decision not to call for a mutual and immediate cessation of hostilities early on in the Lebanon war has done significant damage to the UK's reputation in much of the world.””" The Committee is quite right, and it was not the only one to reach that conclusion. The UN Deputy Secretary-General said that the UK's diplomatic efforts at the time were counter-productive, which is surely a damning indictment of our position then. I had hoped that the Government would take stock and learn from the situation, but sadly, their response to the report suggests otherwise. Perhaps the Minister will comment on that point in his response. The Lebanon conflict brought up the issue of cluster munitions, of which 3.5 million were dropped in the 72 hours after the Security Council passed resolution 1701. It is estimated that 1 million of those bombs remain unexploded. I was concerned to read in the report that the work to clear the munitions had been hampered by Israel. The Committee did well to highlight that point, but there seems to be a conflict in the report. It says that, on 2 July 2007, the Israeli ambassador wrote to the Committee saying that he had handed over the maps, and that it had been done voluntarily. However, the report then states that the Minister said on 3 July 2007 that he had ““not had that co-operation””, so I should be interested to find out from him what further pressure the Government put on Israel after that and whether Israel is still not fully co-operating or whether the situation has been resolved. The Government's banning of dumb cluster munitions has been welcomed by others, and I add my voice to that welcome. However, I cannot get my head around the so-called smart bombs, of which 10 per cent. are still left unexploded. The Government said in their response that they need to balance"““military necessity with humanitarian concerns””," but how can they possibly justify the continued use of those immoral weapons when they know that those weapons will kill and maim innocent civilians long after a conflict ends? I should obviously welcome a signal from the Minister that they will ban them, too, although I shall not hold my breath about that today. The Committee is undertaking a separate inquiry into Iran, which will give a more detailed assessment of the security situation there, but I should like to make one point about it. Notwithstanding the embarrassing media debacle after the release of the British sailors, the Government should be warmly applauded for securing the sailors' release, especially as they seemed to come to no harm. On a related point, however, about which my hon. Friend the Member for Teignbridge (Richard Younger-Ross) has asked the Foreign and Commonwealth Office but not yet received a reply, did the UK recover the naval vessel from the Iranians? If not, will the Government pursue the issue? There has not been much discussion about Iraq today, but it is relevant to the Israeli-Palestinian situation, particularly because the war in Iraq diverted so much energy and attention away from dealing with it. Others have mentioned the missed opportunities of the past few years. I was not in the House in 2003 when the votes and debates took place; I was marching through the streets of Glasgow in protest at the Iraq war with 50,000 others. It was an illegal war on a flawed prospectus, and just this week at a tribunal, the Information Commissioner said that the Government should publish a secret document drawn up by John Williams, the FCO's top spin doctor at the time. It may have influenced the dodgy, sexed-up dossier that we know so much about. In its ruling, the tribunal said that"““information has been placed before us, which was not before Lord Hutton, which may lead to questions as to whether the ""Williams draft in fact played a greater part in influencing the drafting of the Dossier than has previously been supposed.””" I hope that the Government will respect the information tribunal ruling and agree to publish that report. This has been a valuable report and an excellent debate. I, again, pay tribute to the work of the Committee in undertaking the inquiry and raising several important issues, and I look forward to the Minister's reply.