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Debate on Thursday, 15 January 2009, in the House of Commons, led by Bill Rammell. The answering member was David Lidington.

Gaza

Debate on a motion that this House has considered the matter of Gaza.

Secondary information

Type
Parliamentary proceeding
Reference
486 c396-453 
Session
2008-09
Department
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Proceeding contributions
Speaker | 486 c407 (Link to this contribution) Order. I remind all right hon. and hon. Members that Mr. Speaker has imposed a six-minute limit on B...
Chris Mullin | 486 c442 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Lady anticipates me—we should indeed do exactly that, and one or two other things bes...
Show all contributions (131)
Chris Mullin | 486 c440-1 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Member for Birmingham, Ladywood (Clare Short) has put some valuable first-hand inform...
Clare Short | 486 c438-40 (Link to this contribution) I want to use the six minutes available to me to report on a recent visit that I made with European ...
Parmjit Dhanda | 486 c437-8 (Link to this contribution) I was fortunate to represent the Government for a year as Minister for community cohesion. One of my...
Alistair Burt | 486 c437 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman can make his own speech.
Mark Hendrick | 486 c437 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Alistair Burt | 486 c437 (Link to this contribution) Over a period of decades, Israel has let go a number of times. Now we have to see another side be pr...
Robert Marshall-Andrews | 486 c429 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for giving way. The hon. Member for Liverpool, Riverside (Mrs. E...
Elfyn Llwyd | 486 c428 (Link to this contribution) The bombing of the Shij'ia family health care centre in Gaza city, run by the Near East Council of C...
Speaker | 486 c428 (Link to this contribution) Order. The hon. Lady's time is up.
Louise Ellman | 486 c427-8 (Link to this contribution) No, I have no time. That is why on 14 January, Israel made a complaint to the United Nations Securi...
Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom | 486 c423-4 (Link to this contribution) Some of my hon. Friends are saying that it will reduce it, but I really do not know. All that I can ...
Chris Mullin | 486 c423 (Link to this contribution) I understand what the right hon. Gentleman is saying, but does he think that what we have seen in Ga...
Louise Ellman | 486 c427 (Link to this contribution) There is no doubt whatsoever that the loss of civilian life, particularly that of children, as shown...
Lord Bruce of Bennachie | 486 c425-7 (Link to this contribution) I am pleased to speak after two of my colleagues on the Select Committee on International Developmen...
Richard Burden | 486 c424-5 (Link to this contribution) I listened carefully to the speech of the right hon. Member for North-East Hampshire (Mr. Arbuthnot)...
David Winnick | 486 c434-5 (Link to this contribution) I am certainly not an apologist for Hamas. I do not support its general attitude towards Israel or i...
Elfyn Llwyd | 486 c429-30 (Link to this contribution) The hon. and learned Gentleman is absolutely right. If there was nothing to hide, journalists would ...
Robert Marshall-Andrews | 486 c431 (Link to this contribution) I wonder if my hon. Friend can answer the following question, which I also put earlier. If there is ...
Andrew Dismore | 486 c430-1 (Link to this contribution) The violence that we continue to see in Gaza and Israel is a horrible tragedy. While no one can help...
Andrew Dismore | 486 c432 (Link to this contribution) It might surprise my hon. and learned Friend to learn that I agree with him. I think journalists sho...
Lord Swire | 486 c433-4 (Link to this contribution) Those of us who were rather cynical about the prospects of the Annapolis conference always thought i...
Andrew Dismore | 486 c432-3 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to my hon. Friend for her intervention. The Gaza tragedy should make the internationa...
Andrew Murrison | 486 c413 (Link to this contribution) I am sure that most hon. Members agree that Israel has a right to defend itself against almost unifo...
Ed Davey | 486 c413-4 (Link to this contribution) Our position on an arms embargo is not related to the use of white phosphorus, but to the need to ge...
Andrew Murrison | 486 c413 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Mike Gapes | 486 c418-9 (Link to this contribution) It is a pleasure to follow the right hon. and learned Member for Devizes (Mr. Ancram), and I agree v...
Roger Godsiff | 486 c414-6 (Link to this contribution) I am most grateful to have the opportunity to speak in the debate. The recent pictures that we have ...
Marquess of Lothian | 486 c416-8 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful for the opportunity to speak in this debate. I apologise in advance, Madam Deputy Spea...
Stephen Crabb | 486 c414 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Ed Davey | 486 c414 (Link to this contribution) No, I want to finish. Most importantly, the freeze on settlements that was crucial to the Annapolis ...
James Clappison | 486 c419-20 (Link to this contribution) The subject engages sympathies across the House and there is often a marked lack of detachment. On t...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 486 c420 (Link to this contribution) I hear the hon. Gentleman's concern about arms. Given the deaths of 1,000 civilians in the Gaza stri...
James Clappison | 486 c420 (Link to this contribution) I want to stop the current situation, and the hon. Gentleman wants to stop it. The key to that is re...
Mohammad Sarwar | 486 c420 (Link to this contribution) Does the hon. Gentleman accept that the crisis in Gaza and the middle east is due to the illegal occ...
Mike Gapes | 486 c419 (Link to this contribution) I am afraid I do not have time. Killing is still going on in Darfur and in Congo. The international...
Lord Arbuthnot of Edrom | 486 c422-3 (Link to this contribution) I am, and I am proud to be, the chairman of Conservative Friends of Israel. The hon. Member for Bra...
James Clappison | 486 c420-1 (Link to this contribution) I accept what the hon. Gentleman says. As I hope I made clear in an earlier intervention, I would li...
Marsha Singh | 486 c421 (Link to this contribution) What is important today is not any discourse on the past or on what may happen in future, but how we...
Stephen Crabb | 486 c421 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Marsha Singh | 486 c421-2 (Link to this contribution) No—please let me proceed. The report outlined the gravity of the situation: the rising unemployment...
Gerald Kaufman | 486 c407-8 (Link to this contribution) I was brought up as an orthodox Jew and a Zionist. On a shelf in our kitchen, there was a tin box fo...
Ed Davey | 486 c408-9 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton (Sir Gerald Kaufman) has made a powerful speech contain...
Julian Lewis | 486 c409-10 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is making a very sensible argument about how terrorist organisations—and in the c...
Ed Davey | 486 c410 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman studies these issues in great detail and has a great deal of knowledge and unders...
Richard Younger-Ross | 486 c409 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend has made the point that the Israelis are not learning lessons, and that their actions...
Ed Davey | 486 c409 (Link to this contribution) I fear that my hon. Friend is right. According to the assessments that I have seen of what has happe...
Clare Short | 486 c411 (Link to this contribution) A number of hon. Members have said that Iran is funding and arming Hamas. Could anyone explain how I...
Ed Davey | 486 c411 (Link to this contribution) I do not agree with the right hon. Lady. Some of the rockets being used by Hamas, such as the Katyus...
Ed Davey | 486 c411 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman makes a fair point, and I shall come on to that later. I just want to deal with o...
Lord Beith | 486 c411 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is making a powerful case about the dangers to Israel in the current strategy, but I ...
Ed Davey | 486 c411 (Link to this contribution) I certainly agree that the international community needs to offer a better peace settlement, but the...
Louise Ellman | 486 c412 (Link to this contribution) Is the hon. Gentleman concerned that two months ago President Ahmadinejad told Hamas that Iran would...
Ed Davey | 486 c412 (Link to this contribution) Of course one is very concerned about many of the statements that President Ahmadinejad has made ove...
Ed Davey | 486 c412 (Link to this contribution) No, I will not give way for a while. Israel needs to be reassured that we are with her against the ...
Marsha Singh | 486 c413 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Paul Rowen | 486 c413 (Link to this contribution) Does my hon. Friend agree that a third area in which the UK should take a lead is in ensuring that t...
Ed Davey | 486 c413 (Link to this contribution) I completely agree with my hon. Friend, although I would not necessarily use all his words. However,...
Michael Fabricant | 486 c403 (Link to this contribution) Will my hon. Friend also condemn Hamas's disgraceful habit and tactic of planting its rockets in civ...
David Lidington | 486 c403 (Link to this contribution) The key point to make is that we need an immediate end to both Israeli military action and rocket at...
James Clappison | 486 c403 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend makes a powerful point, because at some time in future, there must be a settlement on...
David Lidington | 486 c403 (Link to this contribution) The actions of Hamas in the current conflict and in the past have demonstrated that it is an organis...
David Lidington | 486 c402 (Link to this contribution) Anyone who has followed the crisis in Gaza over the past few weeks will have been confronted by a sp...
Paul Rowen | 486 c403 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman, and I shall be quick. Does he not agree that notwithstanding hi...
David Lidington | 486 c403 (Link to this contribution) I shall give way to the hon. Gentleman, but although I am normally willing to take many intervention...
David Lidington | 486 c403-4 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend explains the reason for the genuine resentment and anger—even among Israeli parties a...
Martin Linton | 486 c404 (Link to this contribution) Would not it have helped if the evacuation of 8,000 settlers from Gaza had not been followed by an i...
David Lidington | 486 c405-7 (Link to this contribution) No, I am not going to give way. The Minister in his comments today and the Foreign Secretary earlie...
Clare Short | 486 c405 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Louise Ellman | 486 c405 (Link to this contribution) Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
David Lidington | 486 c405 (Link to this contribution) The right hon. Gentleman is right that it should not only be violence that achieves that, but many c...
Lord Beith | 486 c404 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Gentleman is making a thoughtful speech. Is it not worrying that the possibility that is em...
David Lidington | 486 c404 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend is right. It is not possible to separate the different parts of the middle east dispu...
Tobias Ellwood | 486 c404 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend talks about looking to the future, and we are certainly going through a bleak period ...
David Lidington | 486 c404 (Link to this contribution) I have said in other debates in this place, and I am happy to repeat it, that I believe that the Isr...
Baroness Teather | 486 c400 (Link to this contribution) Will the Government take a lead on a further UN resolution? The Minister has called the attacks with...
Bill Rammell | 486 c400 (Link to this contribution) I say in all sincerity to my hon. Friend that I understand that concern. In the past two weeks, I ha...
Fiona Mactaggart | 486 c400 (Link to this contribution) When that resolution was being negotiated, I was meeting some 30 constituents in Slough. The carnage...
Bill Rammell | 486 c401 (Link to this contribution) Let me say to my hon. Friend that I understand that concern. Israel does have a right to self-defenc...
Louise Ellman | 486 c401 (Link to this contribution) Will my hon. Friend accept that Israel is correct in trying to stop its citizens being the target of...
Bill Rammell | 486 c401 (Link to this contribution) I shall make some progress and then take a couple more interventions, but I am very conscious of the...
Bill Rammell | 486 c400 (Link to this contribution) We have consistently argued that all states should accede to the International Criminal Court, and w...
Bill Rammell | 486 c402 (Link to this contribution) I share the view that part of the reason we are where we are today is a collective failure on the pa...
Bill Rammell | 486 c401 (Link to this contribution) With respect, I want to proceed with my speech, and then I will take one more intervention. It is n...
Simon Hughes | 486 c401-2 (Link to this contribution) All of us who have been to Israel and Palestine know the yearning and the need for peace, but many o...
Bill Rammell | 486 c397 (Link to this contribution) I know former ambassador Jeremy Greenstock very well, as does my hon. Friend. I believe that Hamas h...
Chris Mullin | 486 c397 (Link to this contribution) My hon. Friend mentioned Hamas a moment ago, but is he aware that the former Foreign Office diplomat...
Bill Rammell | 486 c397 (Link to this contribution) I share the view expressed by the hon. Gentleman, and I shall deal with that point explicitly later ...
Lord Robathan | 486 c396-7 (Link to this contribution) I am grateful to the Minister for giving way so early in his speech. I understand and appreciate the...
Bill Rammell | 486 c396 (Link to this contribution) I beg to move,"That this House has considered the matter of Gaza." The situation in Gaza and southe...
Speaker | 486 c397 (Link to this contribution) Order. Before the Minister replies, the House will have noticed that Mr. Speaker has put a time limi...
Karen Buck | 486 c397 (Link to this contribution) I, too, have been in both Sderot and Gaza and I accept that there are two sides to the story, but th...
Bill Rammell | 486 c398-9 (Link to this contribution) I respect the passion and conviction of my hon. Friend. She has spoken to me privately about her con...
Bill Rammell | 486 c398 (Link to this contribution) If I may make some progress, I shall address that specific point later in my remarks.
Tom Levitt | 486 c398 (Link to this contribution) Anyone who has visited Gaza knows exactly how dependent ordinary people are on the work of the Unite...
David Drew | 486 c398 (Link to this contribution) Before my hon. Friend moves on—
Bill Rammell | 486 c397 (Link to this contribution) That point is well made, Mr. Deputy Speaker. In answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Regent's Pa...
Derek Wyatt | 486 c398 (Link to this contribution) Exactly. Is it my hon. Friend's intention to report the Israeli Government to the International Cris...
Bill Rammell | 486 c398 (Link to this contribution) No. I shall make progress, if I may. The point about the number of hon. Members wishing to speak is ...
Baroness Brown of Silvertown | 486 c398 (Link to this contribution) Will my hon. Friend consider economic sanctions? They are an effective tool of non-violent intervent...
Bill Rammell | 486 c398 (Link to this contribution) I have made it very clear, and it is the collective view of the Government, that that bombing is ind...
Bill Rammell | 486 c400 (Link to this contribution) I shall make some progress, then take a further intervention. On 27 December and with our support, ...
Jim Cunningham | 486 c399 (Link to this contribution) How near are we to a permanent ceasefire as a result of the current discussions in Egypt? What Israe...
Bill Rammell | 486 c399 (Link to this contribution) It is unacceptable on all sides. In the midst of this, and given the incredibly detailed and sensiti...
Bill Rammell | 486 c399-400 (Link to this contribution) We have communicated that directly to the Israeli Government both privately and publicly in respect ...
Bill Rammell | 486 c399 (Link to this contribution) I will make some progress and take some more interventions. One of my real fears is that current ac...
Lee Scott | 486 c399 (Link to this contribution) Does the Minister join me in hoping that the peace negotiations currently going on in Egypt, which I...
Bill Rammell | 486 c399 (Link to this contribution) I will take care with what I say on that. The talks that are taking place are critical. We are doing...
Keith Simpson | 486 c448-50 (Link to this contribution) As a number of hon. Members have said, this has been an excellent debate. There have been somewhere ...
Bill Rammell | 486 c450-3 (Link to this contribution) With the leave of the House, Mr. Deputy Speaker. We have had a good debate, but the division of opin...
George Galloway | 486 c445-6 (Link to this contribution) I say to the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, who is not in his place, that the international...
Mohammad Sarwar | 486 c446-8 (Link to this contribution) The sustained acts of brutal aggression to which the inhabitants of Gaza are being subjected at the ...
Richard Younger-Ross | 486 c442-3 (Link to this contribution) There have been a number of excellent speeches this afternoon. I commend the hon. Member for Sunderl...
Phyllis Starkey | 486 c443-5 (Link to this contribution) We have heard some excellent speeches, and I associate myself with the remarks of the right hon. and...
Clare Short | 486 c442 (Link to this contribution) The EU has a trade treaty with a human rights conditionality that gives Israel privileged access to ...
Alistair Burt | 486 c435-6 (Link to this contribution) It is a privilege to take part in a debate in which extraordinarily well-crafted and well-expressed ...
Louise Ellman | 486 c432 (Link to this contribution) It might be helpful for my hon. Friend and other hon. Members to note that journalists have now been...
Ed Davey | 486 c413 (Link to this contribution) No, I will not give way. On Monday, the Minister gave me some reassurance, but we need to hear more...
David Lidington | 486 c405 (Link to this contribution) The hon. Lady must forgive me. We need an immediate cessation of violence, the implementation of th...
Angus Brendan MacNeil | 486 c399 (Link to this contribution) Sadly, Israel's behaviour at the moment makes it look like a rogue state to those of us who have not...
Ed Davey | 486 c413 (Link to this contribution) I shall give way, but this is the last time.
Alistair Burt | 486 c437 (Link to this contribution) No. Sooner or later, the attacks and the rockets become Gaza, today. If the tragedy of Gaza, and th...
Andrew Pelling | 486 c410-1 (Link to this contribution) In terms of dealing with the unintended consequences, is there not also a danger of spreading the lo...
Subjects
Armed conflict Politics and government Middle East Peace negotiations Gaza Ceasefires
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