Unsurprisingly constituents continue to contact me about the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
I have spent the last nine months, as a member of the House of Commons Select Committee on Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, looking at this issue in great detail including visiting the West Bank. This investigation has led to the production of a report, which constituents can read here Foreign Affairs Committee: Now is the time for the UK to act on Middle East peace – Committees – UK Parliament, which sets out a series of urgent recommendations and conclusions.
The Committee are agreed, as are almost all international bodies, that a two state solution represents the only way forward which can achieving a lasting peace. This will require an Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories and the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. To achieve this will require a settlement which includes the removal of Hamas combined with bold leadership on both sides, supported by the neighbouring Arab states. Recognition of Palestine will be an integral part of any settlement but I do not believe that recognition now without will help bring this about. It has to be part of any overall settlement and it was for that reason I did not support this particular element of the Report.
I recognise that many people in the UK – including my constituents– are deeply disturbed by the loss of life and humanitarian suffering in Gaza. Like many across the country, I believe the protection of civilian life must be a paramount concern, and I continue to urge the Government to use its influence to press for an end to the violence and for the delivery of urgently needed humanitarian aid.
