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Gaza

My Lords, when speaking about Gaza too many people—although, this morning, with the very notable exception of the noble Lord, Lord Luce—speak as though history began in 1967. But under the UN General Assembly Resolution 181 of November 1947, which set out the partition of mandated Palestine, Gaza was given to the proposed Arab state. Although not giving either side all that it wanted, the Jewish Agency accepted the resolution and partition, the Arab League rejected it. On 14 May 1948, the mandate ended and the state of Israel was proclaimed. On 15 May, the regular armies of Syria, Transjordan, Iraq and Egypt crossed the Palestine boundaries to attack the Jewish forces. At the end of the fighting, Israel had established sovereignty over 8,000 square miles of mandated Palestine west of the Jordan. The remaining 2,000 square miles were divided between Transjordan and Egypt. I shall concentrate on Gaza, our interest today. Egypt took control, but did not annex Gaza, and ruled it harshly. Some 250,000 Palestinian refugees herded into Gaza were kept stateless. Egypt did not give them citizenship, nor did it allow them free entry into Egypt proper. Most of them lived in refugee camps run by UNRWA and their 1.5 million descendants are still largely dependent on UNRWA for food. I first visited Gaza in August 1967, when Israel had taken control only a few weeks before. As I have said before in this House, I found Gaza an absolute hellhole. It is not easy to understand, and it is even more difficult to forgive, how prosperous Arab countries allowed their Palestinian brethren to live in such wretched conditions from 1948 to 1967. While we all welcome the current pledge of $1 billion from King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia to help rebuild the Gaza Strip, as mentioned by the Minister, does he agree that progress in the Middle East peace process depends now on much more practical and active participation from Arab countries, as indicated by the noble Lord, Lord Howell? There needs to be more humanitarian aid and more active political support for the Palestinian Authority. There have been many and varied charges levied against Israel over the most recent conflict in Gaza, and the ensuing humanitarian catastrophe. Before dealing with some of the specifics, I should like to echo the wise words of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Woolf, who I hope will forgive me for paraphrasing him. On 21 January, he advised against using words like condemnation without investigation and proof. He also explained that bad experiences had made Israel sceptical of international opinion, since unfounded allegations were given maximum publicity, which, when they were refuted were not given the same kind of publicity. An example that illustrates perfectly both of those points is the alleged Israeli rocket attack on the UNRWA school, which killed 43 civilians who had taken refuge in the school compound—that was the story. As the Canadian Globe and Mail has reported—but very few other newspapers have—physical evidence and interviews with several eye witnesses, including a teacher who was in the school yard at the time of the shelling, made clear that all three mortar shells landed in the street outside the quite large compound of the school. Indeed, 43 people were killed, but that did not include anyone who was inside the UNRWA school compound. One of the UN officers got the story right very briefly when he said that, "““three artillery shells landed outside the UNRWA Jabalia Prep C Girls School””." But the correct version did not last long. It appeared never to have reached the international media. So is it any wonder that Israelis do not trust it? I have a lot of detailed briefing and notes on white phosphorus. But time—perhaps to the relief of your Lordships—means that I cannot read them all and I will not try. Let me just say that Israel denies any illegal use of white phosphorous. On 13 January, the International Red Cross said that Israel was firing white phosphorus shells during its operations in the Gaza Strip, but had no evidence to suggest that the incendiary agent was used improperly or illegally. Peter Herby, the head of the Red Cross mines-arms unit, told the Associated Press: "““In some of the strikes in Gaza it’s pretty clear that phosphorus was used … But it’s not very unusual to use phosphorus to create smoke or illuminate a target. We have no evidence to suggest it’s being used in any other way””." Mr Herby also said that using phosphorus to illuminate a target or create smoke is legitimate under international law and that there was no evidence that Israel was intentionally using phosphorus in a questionable way, such as burning down buildings or consciously putting civilians at risk. No civilised army ever wants civilian casualties. From our experience in Afghanistan, we should know the problems for a disciplined army which is trying its best to avoid civilian casualties, against an enemy which deliberately uses its own people as human shields. British and American forces often abort operations, but still cause civilian casualties. Israelis also abort, but in Gaza, Israel is often in the position where, unlike in Afghanistan, it must take the target and does not have the choice of returning to it on another day. A leading expert in international law who visited the Gaza region on 13 January said that Hamas is a ““case study par excellence”” of a systematic violation of international humanitarian law. Irwin Cotler, a Canadian former justice Minister, a Canadian MP and a law professor at McGill University, said: "““What is happening in Gaza is a tragedy. But there has to be moral and legal clarity as to responsibility. When Israel responds and civilians are killed because Israel is targeting an area from which rockets were launched, then it is Hamas which bears responsibility for the deaths, and not Israel, according to international law””." Over eight years, Israel warned again and again, with 5,000 rockets raining down on its civilians in south Israel—what some people have called an ugly game of Iranian roulette—to no avail. How long is any country, let alone a democracy, expected to let its civilian population suffer that? Just over a year ago, I visited Sderot, which was the victim of so many of those rockets. A scheduled meeting with some of the leaders of mothers’ organisations was cancelled because they were off on buses to Jerusalem. They went to demonstrate outside the Prime Minister’s office, telling him what they thought of him for allowing their children to be subjected to the stress, strain and threat of death almost every day, and to demand of him: where was their army? A senior Israeli politician from the area said to me, ““I can’t look these people in the eye, especially the mothers. Some of them were settlers removed forcibly by our army, and I promised them that it was to bring peace to the area. What can I say to them now?””. I finish by saying that the Palestinian population of Gaza has been exploited since 1948. It is hardly to be wondered that in desperation the people have allowed the monster of Hamas, funded by Iran, to emerge. Let us hope that out of this latest humanitarian tragedy to befall them, a good future can emerge with everyone, including moderate Arab countries, contributing to their success.