Westminster Diary - 10th August 2006

Thursday, 10th August 2006

Few of us will have seen the extensive coverage of recent events in the Middle East without huge sympathy for the suffering of innocent Lebanese and Israeli citizens or without great concern for the future of the region. The Middle East has of course been the world’s most troublesome spot for many decades and violence and destruction are sadly nothing new to its inhabitants, but this outbreak of fighting is more depressing that most.

It is a further blow to the fragile stability of the area, already rocked by Hamas winning control of the Palestinian Authority, by the Iranian President’s wild threats in combination with an apparently relentless pursuit of a nuclear weapon and by the ongoing turmoil in Iraq.

Several people have written to me expressing the strong view that we in the United Kingdom should not remain idle while this conflict continues and I do not believe we should. We must, however appreciate the context in which it occurs. In terms of geography and natural resources, Israel is uniquely vulnerable to attack from its predominantly hostile neighbours. Several regional politicians, not least the President of Iran, are explicitly committed to its destruction. All Israeli citizens are obliged to perform military service and live under constant threat, these days as much from terrorist attack by Hamas or Hizbollah as from invasion by the Syrian army. Faced with the terrorist abduction of its soldiers, no Israeli government could afford to do nothing, in the certain knowledge that had the offence not been met with reprisals, it would have been repeated a hundred times.

So it’s not the legitimacy of Israel’s military response I question, but rather its long-term effectiveness. Widespread destruction of Lebanese infrastructure can only make it more difficult for the Lebanese government to create the stable, functioning democracy Israel surely craves as its neighbour. The deaths of Lebanese civilians harden the rhetoric of Islamic extremists and the hearts of their audiences. They make it more difficult for Arab moderates to make the case for working with the Israelis. I do not buy the argument that Israel is providing the excuse for more terrorism against it – there are no excuses for terrorism, but nor do I think that Israel will enhance its future security if it persists with widespread military action.

So Israel should agree to a ceasefire as soon as possible, but such an agreement requires two parties. Israeli civilians have died too in the hail of rockets which has fallen on Israeli towns and villages in the last few weeks. The Iranian and Syrian governments who have supplied these rockets must stay the hands of those who have been firing them. They have the power to do so and if they wish to show genuine commitment to peace in the Middle East, they will exercise it. It is the job of Britain and other countries which have influence to put pressure on both sides of this conflict to bring the killing swiftly to an end.

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Updated on Thursday, 10th August 2006