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Gaza

Donkey and cart, as my hon. Friend has corrected me. To close the tunnels before opening the borders has simply reduced the people of Gaza to an even more parlous state than they were in before. We visited the Qattan centre in Gaza city, which is a fantastic children's centre. Any Sure Start project would be green with envy if it saw its facilities, but it serves more than 12,000 children and was three or four years behind its building schedule—fortunately it escaped bombing—because it has been impossible to get building materials such as glass or concrete over the border. We also visited the al-Moghraka sewage works and proposed water treatment plant. We did not see the plant, because it has not been built. The money is there—again, it was provided by the Welfare Association and the European Union—but the materials cannot be transported into the country. The consequence is that conditions are completely unsanitary. Sewage frequently floods the streets and fields, and it contaminates the water supply. It flows out into the Mediterranean, where the restriction on fishing means that virtually anything caught off the coast is inedible. That is the heritage from which the bombardment came. As has been indicated in the debate, that makes the opening of the crossings the number one priority. The last week for which I have figures, which is only up to 18 February—I am again grateful to the PCHR, which documents such things—show that some materials and food containers are coming through the Kerem Shalom crossing; some fuel is coming through the Nahal Oz crossing; and a few containers of seed and fodder are coming through the Karni crossing. However, that represents a fraction both of the need and of the materials that were passing into Gaza before the election of the Hamas Government. Opening the crossings is a sine qua non of dealing with the current situation. I hope to give my hon. Friend the Minister a chance to reply, but also to be precise about the issues that the Government need to address. First, we all agree that the crossings have to be opened, but how will that happen? Secondly, how is the aid that has been promised going to be delivered? I know that some of it has been delivered, but some of it still has to be delivered. Thirdly, how is Israel going to be made to live up at least to some of its international responsibilities? It seems to pick and choose when it wishes to adhere to those responsibilities. We must also include the question of reparations. We should surely look to the Israelis to pay for the wilful damage to United Nations and British Government property, and that of non-governmental organisations, leaving aside any question of criminal culpability. In the longer term, there is clearly a much more serious and difficult problem in relation to the reconstruction of Gaza, to which the world has essentially turned a blind eye since the Israeli troops withdrew four years ago. The UK Government should take a lead on coming up with a game plan to deal with the problem. It seems to many informed observers—people who are much more informed than me—that the Israelis have a strategy to bomb or starve Gaza back into the stone age. The rationale is that Israel does not see Gaza as part of a one or two-state solution in the middle east, but as something to be parcelled off and got rid of, and to be entirely fenced off from the rest of Palestine. The people of Gaza are not going to put up with that. I was privileged to hear a very passionate speech from the Palestinian ambassador last night at a meeting in the Palace in which he noted that Palestinians' impetus is to get into, rather than out of, Gaza. The activities of the Israelis are proving counter-productive. They bolster support for Hamas and Palestinian resistance, and make the peace process much more difficult. They are also making the process of reconstruction more difficult. Only the international community can do something about it, and the Government have a substantial role to play. I hope that the Minister, notwithstanding the difficulties of the situation, will be able to give me some comfort in his response.