Palestinian Territories: Development Support

Question

Asked by

To ask His Majesty’s Government what steps, beyond the potential recognition of a Palestinian state, they are taking to support the development of the Palestinian territories, including best practice in governance, anti-corruption measures, and institutional capacity-building.

My Lords, the Government recognise that a reformed Palestinian Authority is essential to long-term stability and development, and in advancing a two-state solution. The UK continues to contribute substantial official development assistance for the OPTs, alongside providing humanitarian relief for Palestinians and support for Palestinian economic development. We will strengthen governance, accountability and civic space in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including supporting the Palestinian Authority to deliver its reform agenda.

I was at Kerem Shalom last week and saw full trucks going into Gaza and empty ones coming out. What talks have HMG had with COGAT to support the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which gets food supplies directly to the people at no financial cost, as opposed to other agencies, where food is confiscated by Hamas, forcing the needy to pay?

Capacity building is important, but are we not wasting British taxpayers’ money when Palestinian textbooks for the new academic year—this year, and I am holding the book—are teaching 14 year-olds, on page 40, to lionise suicide bombers, praise Palestinian daggers slashing Israeli throats and call on students to remember the image of burned Israelis? Is there any point in sending the British people’s hard-earned cash to support a Palestinian state, when Palestinian children are being indoctrinated and incited by these grotesque images, and 48 hostages are still being held?

I recognise and commend the work that the noble Lord does to bring about a future for the people of Israel and the people of Palestine. He knows and I know—and I think there is broad agreement—that the right future here is for a two-state solution. Our view is that the best way to bring that about, or when that does happen, is for there to be a Palestinian Authority that has the capacity and capability to be able to run the future state in a way that we would all wish to see.

The points that the noble Lord raises about textbooks are valid. That is one reason why we want to work with the Palestinian Authority to reform how this is done—and there are other issues, too, which I am sure will be raised in this exchange.

On the issue of food, I am glad that the noble Lord has been, and I am glad that he saw some aid trucks going in. However, the sad truth of this is that what is going in is a very small fraction of what is needed. More than 2,000 people have been killed trying to access aid through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation; it is failing to deliver aid in the volume needed. The IPC has now designated famine, and we expect that thousands of children will die in the coming months unless the levels of aid are dramatically increased. I know that that is what the noble Lord wants to see as well—nobody in this Chamber is arguing that that is an acceptable situation. What we have to do is to work out how to persuade the Government of Israel, who are the only people who are able to allow that aid in, to get the aid, the medical supplies, the people and the water to where it is needed to save those lives, and that must be done immediately.

My Lords, today is the 695th day in captivity of the hostages taken on 7 October. Do the Government accept that there can be no progress in addressing the tragedy of Gaza unless and until all those hostages, and the dead bodies retained by Hamas, are returned to Israel?

I cannot see a situation where there is any kind of peace, lasting or otherwise, that comes about without the release of those hostages. What their families have been forced to endure for far too long is unimaginable for many of us. Many of us here have met the families of those hostages. Thank goodness some of them have been released, but, as the noble Lord says, many have not. We call on anybody who has any ability to help to bring it about that those people are released and tragically, in too many cases, that their bodies are returned, and for that to happen immediately.

My Lords, does the Minister agree that a future Palestinian state is going to need as many well-qualified individuals as possible to make things happen? In the light of that, I congratulate the Government on having agreed to take some students from Gaza. Will the Minister confirm that about 80 of these have been offered places in British universities? Will they all be able to come, and will they be given the financial support to take up their places?

Clearly, what has happened in regard to the students is through no fault of those students—it is a very difficult situation. We are talking to our colleagues in the Home Office, and they obviously—and we understand why—want to make sure that all the necessary security clearances are obtained. That is not easy in this context, and we may well in the next few minutes talk about the medical evacuation of children as well. These things need to be done, and they need to be done responsibly. It is absolutely devastating what has happened to the life chances and educational prospects of some of the brightest and most able young people in Gaza, who, as the noble Lord says, should be making a contribution to the future of their country.

My Lords, Prime Minister Netanyahu has spoken openly of his vision for a so-called “Greater Israel”: a vision of permanent war, illegal settlement and, presumably, the occupation of other sovereign countries. Do the Government accept the reality that Israel seems determined to make a Palestinian state impossible and will continue to expand, at the expense of Palestinian survival and the prospects for peace in the entire region? What concrete action have the Government taken to make it clear that these outrageous plans are completely unacceptable?

One of the reasons that the Prime Minister made the statement on recognition at the beginning of the Recess was specifically to keep the prospect of a two-state solution alive. Some of the actions that the Government of Israel have taken recently have made that less likely and harder to envisage, so we have taken the decision that, should the situation remain as it is at the UN General Assembly at the end of this month, we will take what I think is the hugely significant step of recognising the state of Palestine.

My Lords, following on from the answer that the noble Baroness has just given, of course, the Government lose no opportunity to lecture us on how much they support and are bound by the concept of international law. The Montevideo convention sets out in international law the four criteria that constitute a state. Will the noble Baroness tell the House specifically which of those criteria are filled by the state of Palestine that they are about to recognise?

I am afraid that there is nothing in my tone this afternoon that has been in any way lecturing or hectoring. I have been clear about our reasons for reaching a position where we feel that we have to consider recognising the state of Palestine. We will do that in the right way, in the situation that I have described and that the Prime Minister has described at great length, at the General Assembly at the end of September.

My Lords, one of the most important things we can do to help create a Palestinian state that we all want to see is the Government’s work to support reform of the Palestinian Authority, which should form an embryonic state. What update can the Minister provide us specifically on Michael Barber’s vital work supporting governance reform of the PA?

I think the noble Baroness’s question is incredibly constructive and it is our view that the Palestinian Authority is the only viable leadership for a future Palestinian state. As she said, Sir Michael Barber has been doing work for some time now on trying to improve capacity and to work with the Palestinian Authority on issues such as taxation, civic space and democratic reform, all things that we fully accept need to happen in order for a future Palestinian state to be safe and successful.

My Lords—

My Lords—

My Lords, it is the turn of the Cross Benches.