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Gaza

My Lords, may I ask my noble friend about the current political impact of what is going on within the region, from which I returned late last week? I was struck by the fact that many people thought that the role of Hamas was being strengthened by Israeli action, that the outcome of all this undermined moderate Palestinian opinion, which would talk to Israelis sensibly about the future, and that this action has put much more opinion behind the very extreme views held by Hamas. Does my noble friend agree that that is happening not only within Palestine, but on a broader basis throughout the Middle East, because moderate Arab opinion is enraged by the constant television pictures? We do not see on our televisions the sorts of pictures of broken bodies that I witnessed last week; we see them camouflaged. However, in the region you see the unalloyed horror of what is going on, which has enraged opinion there. The Statement talks about the vision of the two-state solution, but I have never before heard, as I heard last week in the region, people denying that a two-state solution was the way forward. That almost follows the logic of the noble Earl, Lord Onslow, but comes to the horrifying conclusion that the state of Israel should no longer exist. That is what is happening politically in the region. I do not know whether my noble friend agrees with me, but I was more worried, concerned and frightened by what I heard last week than I have ever been.