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Israel and Palestine: Gaza

My Lords, while I consider the answer to the noble Lord’s final point, I shall reply to the first two. I have already said that the economic and political aspects need to proceed in parallel, but we certainly need to accord enormous importance to the economic aspects. As regards Hamas dropping the destruction of Israel from its charter, the quartet principles, which also call for the renunciation of violence, are the principles we have always required of Hamas before it participates in negotiations, or we participate in negotiations with it. As has been discussed, we need to find a way to move forward and not fall back into the previous arid stand-off. We must find a way of bringing Hamas forward, ultimately as part of a united Palestinian delegation, into negotiations on a final peace. On the border crossings, it is clear that two issues require to be addressed. The first is the need for some kind of international presence to ensure access. There is also the issue of how the Palestinians manage their side of these border accesses. On the noble Lord’s final point, we may need a new Ferdinand de Lesseps to come back and do a few of his magnificent tricks digging big drains in the region. However, I shall certainly pass the point on to those more qualified to deal with it than myself.