Middle East    Lebanon and Gaza

I believe the action which has been taken by Israel, both in Gaza and Lebanon, is absolutely inexcusable and unjustified. In both cases what is taking place is the collective punishment of the whole population in reaction to an act committed by a small number of people. In both Gaza and Lebanon innocent civilians are being killed on a daily basis through the actions of the Israeli army.

A number of MPs have supported motions in the House of Commons, on Gaza and Lebanon. The text of the motions is as follows:

“That this House expresses grave concern about the escalating crisis in the Middle East that has now spread to Lebanon; notes that Israel's disproportionate military actions in Gaza and Lebanon, including an air and sea blockade of Lebanon, attacks on the airport in Beirut on 13th July and the killing of at least 35 Lebanese civilians within the first 24 hours, risk provoking further regional conflict by seriously jeopardising the fragile political landscape in Lebanon; condemns Hizballah's rocket attacks on Israel and the abduction of Israeli soldiers; urges the British Government to call for an immediate cessation of violence from all parties and to condemn the killing of all civilians on all sides; and calls on all sides to respect the other's sovereignty and international law and to release all prisoners held illegally without trial as a means to end the current crisis.”

“That this House is gravely concerned by the recent Israeli military attack in the Gaza Strip, disabling an essential power station that supplies 65 per cent. of the region's electricity including power for a water pumping station; and shares Christian Aid's concerns that this will only deepen the suffering of the civilian population as essential goods including food, water and fuel have been made scarce due to Israeli military actions.”

We are also asking the Government to make strong representations to the Government of Israel, to restore aid to the Palestinian Authority, to demand the ending of illegal settlements and a return to negotiations based on international law.

I raised this issue with a Foreign Officer Minister in debates in the House of Commons, and I am attaching the quotes from the House of Commons Hansard record. In questions to him after a statement on the Middle East I said:

“No one in this House in any way supports kidnapping or the firing of rockets into Israel, but does my hon. Friend accept that collective punishment is clearly against international law and has been regularly and routinely used by Israel over the years? It is being used again now in Lebanon, with the bombing of infrastructure and targeted assassinations from the air that inevitably cause civilian casualties, as the Israelis know when they do it. Those are not the actions of a responsible Government. In comparing the actions of Hezbollah and Israel, let us remember that Israel is a Government and a state, not an organisation like Hezbollah. One expects any state that claims to be a democracy and is a member of the UN to abide by international law.”

In a debate later in the week, in response to a comment that had been made about the statements from the G8 summit I said:

“The right hon. Gentleman referred to the G8 and the fact that nothing very strong had been said. Is not one of the real problems the US attitude? If any other state had been doing the sort of thing that Israel has been doing and smashing to pieces the infrastructure of one of its neighbours, we would have heard much stronger words from the G8, the US, the UK Government and the UN.”

I have signed the letter asking for a recall of Parliament and am also a signatory of a letter to the Prime Minister which argued that the actions of Israel in Lebanon are in clear breach of international law and that the absence of condemnation of Israel’s actions is escalating the crisis. Now that we have a ceasefire I obviously hope that this will hold, but I also believe that we urgently need to act to ensure that this situation does not reoccur.

August 2006

Home Page     |     News & Views     |     Press Archive