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Middle East Peace Process

Following my closing speech at the debate on the Middle East and Afghanistan on 23 October, (Official Report, col. 1068), I would like to clarify to the House the Government’s policy on contacts with Hamas and Hezbollah. Our policy on Hamas has not changed. We do not have a political dialogue with Hamas. We continue to expect it to adhere to the quartet principles of January 2006. These principles remain the fundamental conditions for a viable peace process. We hope that Hamas will accept the principles and grasp the opportunity for dialogue and progress. We had contact with Hamas following the kidnapping of Alan Johnston. The contact was purely on the kidnapping and fulfilled our consular responsibility to do all we could for Alan. Currently we have no contact with Hezbollah. Our objective remains to encourage it to participate in Lebanese politics as a fully democratic political party. We also want Hezbollah to comply with relevant UN Security Council Resolutions (UNSCRs), including UNSCRs 1559, 1680 and 1701, which call for the disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon. The UK's policy on contacts with Hezbollah’s political wing has been based on our assessment of its behaviour, and our judgment of whether such contacts would encourage it to move away from violence and play a constructive role in Lebanese politics. We continue to call on Hezbollah to end terrorist activity, abandon its status as an armed group and participate in the democratic process on the same terms as other political parties.