---

Queen’s Speech

My Lords, I shall focus my remarks on the Middle East and on what roles the UK can play in that disturbed and disturbing region. I shall deal first with Iran where the dangers of nuclear arms in the hands of dangerous idealists are obvious. Ahmadinejad has repeatedly made his intentions for Israel clear, and they are simply a first step in his plans for the domination of the Middle East. However, it is the threat he poses to Europe, which is now well within the range of his ballistic missiles, that should cause us concern. Our Government's position on sanctions is commendable, but Iran’s cynical disregard for any reasoned approaches gives little hope that it will change direction now. The regime's continuing inhumane treatment of its dissidents shows how little it yields to international pressures. Time is not on our side here, and we should avoid at all costs the proposals being leaked from a United Nations body to stop sanctions at a time when we should be encouraging our partners to increase them. In Afghanistan, we seem to be losing heart, as many noble Lords have said, as the tragic losses of our troops mount up, but the Prime Minister's commitment and resolve have to be bolstered. The possibility that the Taliban could take over again, as they surely would if we came out now, is more than worrying but, more significantly, they are increasingly making their presence felt through their associates over the border in Pakistan, and the possibility of Pakistan, a nuclear power, drifting into the hands of associates of the Taliban is extremely dangerous. One fundamentalist regime in the region with nuclear capabilities is frightening enough, but two would be disastrous, so we have to stay there until such time as a stable, self-sufficient Afghanistan can be achieved and Pakistan can be helped to combat its own insurgents. It is often said that we cannot win in Afghanistan, and that may be true, but we should be able to hold the line until such time as strengthened local government can take over the responsibility. On Israel and Palestine, there is a somewhat naive view that if this stand-off could be resolved, all the other problems of the Middle East would disappear. Of course, a solution here is highly desirable, not least for the Palestinians and Israelis, but we should not fool ourselves into believing that Iran would suddenly drop its fundamentalism and its malign anti-Western stance or that the Taliban and al-Qaeda would cease their terrorist activities. That is just too much to expect. However, peace between Israel and the Palestinians would be a godsend for both populations, and every public opinion poll there shows a majority of both sides strongly in favour of a two-state solution. Indeed a reasonably clear idea of what the final two-state solution might look like has emerged from a series of plans over the years—all variations on a theme, to my mind—but if the outline of a final picture is reasonably clear, the process of achieving it has been bedevilled by a series of events, by extremists on both sides, by variably committed leaderships and by external pressures from Iran and its proxies in Hezbollah and Hamas. The two sides are now as far apart as ever. There is considerable concern about settlements on the one hand, and Hamas rearming and splitting from Fatah on the other, among myriad other concerns. Against this background, it is worth thinking about what we in the UK can best do to help them to achieve the common goal of their peoples. Although we have relatively little influence compared with the USA, there are opportunities for us to help. There are many positive signs of regeneration in the West Bank in which we can play a role. Unemployment is going down; the GDP is rising by about 7 per cent a year; many roadblocks and checkpoints have been removed; security is immeasurably better, so the IDF has been able to withdraw from many areas as the Palestinian police—trained with our, and it has to be said Israel’s, help—have taken over; and towns such as Jenin, which were previously no-go areas, have started opening up for tourism. Now Mr Fayed has been able to say that he aims to have an independent state within a few years with or without Israel’s agreement. Although this has created consternation in some quarters in Israel, and although it may be doubtful whether he can achieve it, the point is that he is now confident that the West Bank is increasingly developing the degree of stability, with security and the rule of law, that makes for a governable state. It can certainly put itself in a stronger position to negotiate with Israel, which really needs a stronger partner to talk to. The UK, with the EU, can do much to assist the Palestinians in their economic development and in the build-up of their own police and security systems. In light of that, the boycotts of Israel proposed at the TUC conference recently seem ludicrous, especially when we hear that the Palestinian trade unions say that they would only harm their interests at a time when they have reached an agreement with Israeli trade unions on equal pay. How will a boycott of Israel help the Palestinians or the peace process? This is the sort of dialogue that we should promote. There are many other examples, some of which are supported by our Government and the Israeli Government, many of which are supported by voluntary organisations. I shall give a couple of examples. For the first, I express my interest as a trustee of a charity that we set up last year in my late son’s name. The Daniel Turnberg Travel Fellowship Scheme is supporting 20 medical researchers from the Middle East to spend a few weeks in the UK learning new techniques, making contact with leading researchers and planning continuing research collaboration for when they go home. Of these 20, five are from the West Bank, seven are from Israel and the rest are from Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon. All are enthusiastic and keen to collaborate. Of course, this is not the only scheme. Another, called Building Bridges, has brought two Palestinian and two Israeli trainee doctors to spend three months in the UK in specialist training. They live together in a flat provided for them, and the first group have become firm friends and colleagues. I know of similar low-key schemes for undergraduate students. One, at City University London, is for about a dozen students from Israel and Palestine, and there are others for lawyers and journalists, each bringing together people from both sides. There is of course plenty of room into which criticism of both sides can grow, and each needs to look critically at itself, but for us in the UK so much more can be achieved by helping to build bridges than by destructive boycotts and criticism. The UK Government’s balanced approach and support for both sides is appreciated, but I fear that the sometimes unbalanced recrimination that often emanates from the UN and is heaped on Israel simply demeans the UN, reduces its influence in Israel and does little in the search for peace. Finally, the situation in Gaza is dire. Hamas is firmly in control and vowing death and destruction to Israel. The poor population there is stuck between a rock and a hard place, as neither side seems prepared to blink, at least on the surface. Palestinians in Gaza will never forget or forgive their loss of civilian lives, and the Israelis cannot forget or forgive the thousands of rockets that fell on them in a continual storm for so many years. The question is whether we should focus all our energies on current senses of injustice or on putting some of that energy into looking for ways to move forward to solutions. Surprisingly, there are interactions and links between the two. Most are unheralded, but we should try to build on them. When I visited two large children’s hospitals in Israel recently, I was struck by the number of Palestinian children from Gaza being treated there. In the Safra Children’s Hospital at Tel Hashomer, there are always 30 or 40 children and their families from Gaza receiving specialist care, and about half of all cardiac surgery at Safra is on Gazan children. A similar story is told at the Schneider Children’s Hospital. Indeed, a visit to any Israeli hospital reveals remarkable numbers of Palestinian patients being treated by Jewish and Arab doctors and nurses. This interaction at the grass roots is reflected in joint research activities between Israeli and Palestinian universities in Gaza, almost all of which are below the radar because of Hamas pressure to clamp down on collaboration. It is often said that Israel should talk to Hamas—"talk to your enemies" is the phrase—but there is no evidence whatever that Hamas will talk to Israel. It is even at loggerheads with Fatah, largely because Fatah does speak to Israel. Clearly it will have to speak at some point, but it takes two to tango. Meanwhile, I can only assume that the informal backdoor discussions, which I know go on, have shown that the two sides are so far apart that direct talks are currently not feasible. One remarkable story gives me some hope for the future: the terrible story of the paediatrician in Gaza who tragically lost three of his children when an Israeli bomb dropped on his house during the conflict in January. His remaining child and a niece were badly injured, but they were all shipped out in a helicopter that was sent immediately by the Safra hospital in Israel that I mentioned earlier. They were treated in intensive care, where they recovered, and were sent home. That paediatrician returned later and placed a memorial plaque to his three children in the hallway of the Israeli hospital, and he is dedicating some equipment to them there—a remarkable and touching thing to do. Of course, this terrible loss of civilian life is an awful consequence of any war, and one that makes it so abhorrent. Despite the horror, however, we should gain some faith that reconciliation is possible among ordinary people, and it should give us hope that endless cycles of violence and revenge can be broken. They are not always inevitable.