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EU: Gaza and the West Bank

My Lords, I shall only make three points in this necessarily short but timely debate. First, it must surely be a high priority for the European Union to ensure that the incoming US Administration really throw their weight behind the negotiation of a comprehensive package to bring a durable peace to Israel and its Arab neighbours. Too often in the past, new US Presidents have simply put the Middle East peace process into the ““too difficult”” tray, or have sent their Secretary of State off on a half-hearted quest for peace, only to withdraw their support at the first whiff of opposition in Congress. This time, the negative implications of continuing tension and conflict over Palestine for all the other US foreign policy objectives in the Middle East region—for the stability of Iraq and the Lebanon, for the handling of Iran and the fight against terrorism—must be even clearer than they have been for the past several years. So the European Union could be pushing against a less firmly closed door than in the past, but push it surely must, and I hope that the Minister will assure us that it will. Secondly, I urge that the European Union pursues a genuinely inclusive approach to the negotiating process, not allowing itself yet again to be held captive to a set of rigid preconditions for involvement on the Arab side, as has been the case in recent years. Of course, it is right to insist that acts of violence against Israel by Hamas must cease, but there is now a de facto ceasefire in Gaza. Of course, actual negotiations must be contained within the framework of the Arab peace plan and not simply go back to square one. Of course, Hamas must in the end be prepared to sit at the negotiating table with Israel and to respect its right to security, but these requirements should no longer be a barrier even to talking to Hamas and seeking to draw it into a serious negotiating process. Thirdly, the EU could play a much more prominent and proactive role in any eventual settlement arrangements that are agreed. After all, no third party stands to gain more from a Middle East peace settlement than the European Union, and none stands to lose more from the continuation of the present stasis. Hitherto, the European Union has been a generous donor to the Palestinians and has backed a number of imaginative, if somewhat marginal, schemes to underpin the peace process, but has left all the running on the main issues to be made by the US. Is it not time for the European Union to indicate the role it could play in any post-settlement security arrangements for the region? Is it not also time for the EU to sketch out the sort of deeper and wider relationship it would wish to develop with Israel in such circumstances? Is it not essential that the EU pulls together all the disparate elements of its policies towards the Middle East peace process, and those of its member states, into a concerted and coherent effort, and not just sit around waiting for the Lisbon treaty to come into force? I know that the points I have raised are not easy or simple ones to handle, but the present opportunity for the European Union to turn over a new leaf in its involvement in the peace process will not last for long. It would be good to hear from the Minister that we do not intend to let it slip, as we have so often done in the past.