Occupied Palestinian Territories — House of Commons, 2020-09-24
Topic: International Affairs
Christian Wakeford (Conservative, Centre-right): I refer hon. Members to my declaration in the Register of Members’ Interests in relation to my trip to Israel and the west bank on a fact-finding mission in February of this year It is impossible to overstate the significance of the events of recent weeks for the prospect of Israeli-Palestine peace. The Arab League of 2020, which has refused to condemn Israel’s peace agreement with the UAE, is a very different organisation from that of 1967. After gaining control of East Jerusalem and the west bank from Jordan, Gaza from Egypt and the Golan Heights from Syria in the six-day war, Israel offered to return most of the territories it had occupied in exchange for peace treaties with its neighbours. In response, the Arab League issued the infamous three noes—no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel and no negotiations with Israel. The Arab-Israeli conflict, as it was then known, was born out of the refusal of those Arab states to accept Israel’s existence in any borders The conflict is no longer one between Israel and the entire Arab world, with Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain having now officially recognised Israel in landmark peace deals. Those agreements have included land swaps and concessions, with Israel prioritising the principle of land for peace over territorial gain We must not forget that Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in 2005, uprooting thousands of Israeli Jews who lived there, in order to advance peace with the Palestinians. It is regrettable that, instead of seizing that opportunity, Hamas murdered its Fatah opponents and turned the Gaza strip into a launch pad for terrorism Israel’s occupation of the west bank cannot be understood without considering that, before Jordan seized control of east Jerusalem and the west bank in 1948 and ethnically cleansed the territory of Jews, there had been a continuous Jewish presence in the area for four millennia. Many of Judaism’s holy sites, including the Cave of the Patriarchs, are located in the west bank. More than 10,000 Jews living in the old city of Jerusalem, the west bank and Gaza were driven out or killed in the 1948 war of independence. Today the territories are designated by the international community as illegally occupied Palestinian territories, a definition that Israel and the United States contest. The implication that Jews praying at their holiest sites are doing so illegally is deeply troubling to me and to the Jewish community Land borders can only be resolved in direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, with difficult compromises needed from both sides. I ask my right hon. Friend the Minister for the Middle East and North Africa what steps he is taking with international partners, including Israel’s new partners in the Gulf, to make the resumption of direct talks a reality The state of Israel is a beacon of freedom and democracy, developing solutions to global problems, including coronavirus, and sharing expertise worldwide. I welcome the remarks by the Minister last week that: "The UK’s commitment to Israel is unwavering." With that in mind, does he share the Foreign Secretary’s view that now annexation is off the table, the Palestinians should re-engage with Israel on finance and security co-operation as a confidence-building measure? Does he agree that until the Palestinian leadership embraces co-existence with Israel and stops teaching Palestinian children that Israel’s presence is temporary, the prospects for peace remain bleak? As our close ally, Israel further develops ties with the Arab world, let us ensure that the Palestinian people are not left behind, by telling the Palestinian leadership the hard truths needed to achieve a lasting peace and providing the support needed to reinvigorate the peace process.