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Gaza

My Lords, I thank the Minister for repeating the Statement and for the transparent way in which he engages with us on these sensitive issues, which is hugely appreciated. Does he accept that people in our country feel a growing distress and even anger about the apparently disproportionate use of force in Gaza and that, whichever way we do it, there is an urgent need to bring this violence to a swift end? Does he also accept what representatives of the United Nations and the World Bank said to me in Jerusalem more than a year ago, which was that Gaza is in effect a very large prison? What are we to say to the Palestinian people in Gaza who for generations have lived with the abuse of their human rights and an attack on the fundamental principles of justice? What hope can we bring to them to enter into a conversation that brings them into the game? Is not this a further illustration that, if we do not address the fundamental issue of justice in the Holy Land, we shall go on having this festering sore burst out in these very unhappy ways with innocent people being caught up and losing their lives in its midst?