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ASSISTANCE FOR LOCAL AUTHORITY LEASEHOLDERS BILL -- Order for Second Reading read .
Madam Deputy Speaker (Dame Janet Fookes) : Not moved.
WATER CHARGES (AMENDMENT) (NO. 2) BILL --
Order for Second Reading read .
Madam Deputy Speaker : Not moved.
PUBLIC RECORDS (AMENDMENT) BILL --
Order for Second Reading read .
Madam Deputy Speaker : Not moved.
SOCIAL SECURITY REGULATIONS (CHRONIC BRONCHITIS AND EMPHYSEMA) (AMENDMENT) (NO. 2) BILL --
Order for Second Reading read .
Second Reading deferred till Friday 21 October .
TRADE DESCRIPTIONS (AMENDMENT) BILL --
Order for Second Reading read .
Second Reading deferred till Friday 21 October .
MARRIAGE (AMENDMENT) BILL --
Order for Second Reading read .
Second Reading deferred till Friday 21 October .
REGULATION OF COSMETIC SURGERY BILL --
Order for Second Reading read .
Second Reading deferred till Friday 21 October .
HEREDITARY PEERS (DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS) BILL -- Order for Second Reading read .
Second Reading deferred till Friday 21 October .
HOMICIDE (DEFENCE OF PROVOCATION) BILL --
Order for Second Reading read .
Second Reading deferred till Friday 21 October .
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CONTAMINATED LAND (REMEDIATION) BILL --
Order for Second Reading read .
Second Reading deferred till Friday 21 October .
HORSES (PROTECTIVE HEADGEAR FOR YOUNG RIDERS) (AMENDMENT) BILL --
Order for Second Reading read .
Madam Deputy Speaker : Second Reading what day ? No day named.
TAMPONS (SAFETY) BILL --
Order for Second Reading read .
Second Reading deferred till Friday 21 October .
REGULATION OF DIET INDUSTRY BILL --
Order for Second Reading read .
Second Reading deferred till Friday 21 October .
NURSERY EDUCATION (ASSESSMENT OF NEED) BILL -- Order read for resuming adjourned debate on Second Reading [ 18 February ].
Debate further adjourned till Friday 21 October .
LANDLORD AND TENANT (COVENANTS) BILL --
Order for Second Reading read .
Madam Deputy Speaker : Not moved.
FREEDOM TO ROAM (ACCESS TO THE COUNTRYSIDE) BILL -- Order for Second Reading read .
Second Reading deferred till Friday 21 October .
CHILDREN ACT 1989 (PROHIBITION OF CORPORAL PUNISHMENT) AMENDMENT BILL --
Order for Second Reading read .
Second Reading deferred till Friday 21 October .
FINE DEFAULTERS (RESTRICTION OF POWER TO IMPRISON) BILL -- Order for Second Reading read .
Madam Deputy Speaker : Not moved.
TREASURE BILL [-- LORDS ]
Order for Second Reading read .
Second Reading deferred till Friday 21 October .
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PARDON FOR SOLDIERS OF THE GREAT WAR BILL -- Order for Second Reading read .
Second Reading deferred till Friday 21 October .
WATER (DOMESTIC DISCONNECTIONS) BILL --
Order read for resuming adjourned debate on Second Reading [ 25 February ].
Debate further adjourned till Friday 21 October .
PUBLIC CONVENIENCES (NO. 2) BILL --
Order for Second Reading read .
Second Reading deferred till Friday 21 October .
UNFAIR DISMISSAL (INSOLVENCY OF EMPLOYER) BILL -- Order for Second Reading read .
Second Reading deferred till Friday 21 October .
TRADE BOYCOTTS BILL --
Order for Second Reading read .
Madam Deputy Speaker : Not moved.
PUBLIC INQUIRIES (IMPROVED PROCEDURES) BILL -- Order for Second Reading read .
Second Reading deferred till Friday 21 October .
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BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE --
Ordered,
That, at the sitting on Tuesday 19th July, notwithstanding the provisions of Standing Order No. 14 (Exempted business), the Speaker shall put the Questions on the Motions in the names of Mr. Secretary Patten relating to the draft Education (Assisted Places) (Amendment) Regulations 1994 and Mr. Secretary Gummer relating to the draft Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994, respectively, not later than one and a half hour after each Motion has been entered upon ; and the said Motions may be entered upon and proceeded with, though opposed, after Ten o'clock.-- [Mr. Robert G. Hughes.]
Mr. Nigel Spearing (Newham, South) : On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. Earlier this morning, a statement was made about the important matter of Government consultation on discrimination against disabled people and a document was placed in the Vote Office. I do not know whether it is a Command Paper and therefore I cannot tell whether it will be formally placed before Parliament. Can you ascertain whether that is so ? Will the facts in the paper that is laid before the House, particularly those on page 13, be examined by a Select Committee ?
Madam Deputy Speaker : I have no information on the main point. I can cause inquiries to be made.
Mr. Roger Berry (Kingswood) : On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. In his statement this morning, the Minister for Social Security and Disabled People said that the Government had always opposed rights- based legislation to outlaw discrimination against disabled people. Given that, on Second Reading, not a single hon. Member
Madam Deputy Speaker : This is quite irregular. That is not a point of order for the occupant of the Chair. [Interruption.] Order. The hon. Gentleman must be guided by me.
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Palestinian Refugees (Lebanon)
Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.-- [Mr. Robert G. Hughes.]
2.35 pm
Mr. John Gunnell (Morley and Leeds, South) : A visit by members of the parliamentary Labour party to Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Gaza and Jericho provided many memories : the destruction still so overpowering in the centre of Beirut ; the quiet tension of the artificial border on the Golan heights ; the sense of progress in Amman ; and the atmosphere of fresh celebration, liberty and hope on the streets of Gaza and Jericho. Yet for me, as a member of that party, no memory will be more lasting or more poignant than that of a visit to the camps of the Palestinian refugees at Shatila and Burj El-Barajneh in Beirut.
Our Lebanese hosts were not encouraging when we said that we wanted to go there, but they recognised our determination and the strong wish of Lionel Brisson, the director of United Nations Relief and Works Agency affairs in Lebanon, to meet us at the camps. The discussion that we held with the group of residents who represented them all gave us the starkest reminder of the distance that the peace process has to travel. The men whom we met had lived in compulsory exile for 46 years. They were stateless ; they were not allowed to obtain jobs outside the camps ; and they could not get education beyond secondary schools. They lacked those most basic rights, but they had great dignity.
Some of the older men showed us their British birth certificates. Two of them produced documents showing that, under the British mandate, they served in the police force. Others had spent the whole of their lives in the camps and had no reason to suppose that they would ever see the villages around the lake of Tiberias which their parents called home.
Given their experience and the role that Britain, under a Labour Government, had played in their fate, they were surprisingly free from rancour ; however, they were more critical, and I think more fearful, of the current peace process, for they could see that it had passed them by. Perhaps it would develop, but the more it did and succeeded, the more they would be left trapped in time, but without space. They would be the long- term victims, first of war and then of peace. They also know that there is now a concentration of resources from many nations on Gaza and Jericho, but that means fewer resources for them. They are the real losers in the peace process.
It is easy to cast stones : at Lebanon, because refugees in Syria and particularly those in Jordan have a far better deal ; at Israel for bombing and raiding the camps during its invasion as far north as the outskirts of Beirut ; at the PLO, as the fate of these people was not remotely on the agenda in the negotiations ; and at ourselves for our role in the creation of the problem. It is easy to cast stones, but it is not constructive. We must address what measures we ought, through the United Nations, to argue for and be prepared to contribute to in the short and long terms.
The members of the camp council whom we met made it clear that they supported Hamas, which was to be expected. The policy of destroying Israel made sense to them. How else, they argued, could they recover their homelands ? But they recognised that that was not on our
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agenda or on those of Lebanon, Syria or Jordan. It is a political and military non-starter, so how can we prevent these refugees from becoming the forgotten of the region ?First, we must accept that they are not simply Lebanon's responsibility. Lebanon makes it quite clear that they are unwelcome and that, however long they have stayed, they cannot settle. That exacerbates the refugees' problems. Many of the Lebanese camps suffered enormously during the Israeli invasion and in the Lebanese civil war. Shatila was almost destroyed, as was two thirds of Burj-El Barajneh.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency has spent money on building blocks of flats in Shatila, replacing with homes the rubble left by Israeli raids. It wants to build more, including schools and infrastructure for water and sanitation, but the Lebanese Government say no. Permanent structures create a feeling of permanence and that cannot be allowed, so far more people live in and among the debris than need be the case.
It is true that Beirut has massive reconstruction problems : years of huge expense lie ahead. It is also true that, after the disastrous civil war, the balance between the Christian and other communities is delicate and would be upset by the acceptance of about 300,000 Palestinians as citizens. Lebanon cannot act alone, but must be part of a comprehensive solution.
United Nations resolution 194 affirms that Palestinian refugees have the right either to return to their former areas or to be compensated for their losses. The Jordanian parliamentarians whom we met affirm their continuing support for that resolution to be implemented as part of a lasting peace settlement. Jordan, of course, has far more than the 300,000 refugees in Lebanon--it has upwards of 1 million. The parliamentarians made it clear that the settlement of the refugee issue on a comprehensive basis was for them an absolutely integral part of the peace process.
Britain, too, should confirm its support for resolution 194 and work for its acceptance by all parties. Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, as well as Israel and the PLO, will have to reach accord if the region is to gain the level of stability that will enable all the nations involved to give economic and social development the priority that they could have if all national securities were guaranteed. That cannot happen if the 1948 exiles are simply ignored or if those in Lebanon, who are the ones with the greatest difficulties, remain the only group not affected by an agreement. They would then become irrevocably committed to a radical solution, but without any of the means of achievement or even self-expression, let alone of escape. We must accept that, historically, the United Kingdom has a level of direct responsibility, which I am sure we will be glad to share with our European partners. We must support UNRWA and ensure that, in stepping up the aid we provide to the new Palestinian authority--the Minister is well aware of my support for the measures taken to assist it--we must be careful not to remove aid from the work that UNRWA is doing with refugees, especially its budget for Lebanon.
There are real worries about that budget. It has not kept pace with local inflation and the Palestinians say that in the closure of a hospital, in reduced levels of health care and in the contributions that they are asked to make, there is evidence of a reducing budget. We should be willing to back the agency's planned capital programme for the camps. We should raise with it
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the current concerns of the Palestinians, and we should use our relationship with the Lebanese Government to get permission for that capital work to go ahead.Britain is currently 10th on the list of contributors to UNRWA. We do not sponsor specific projects. It would be timely to back one of the new facilities needed and give it the level of support that would ensure that it was provided. In those circumstances, the Lebanese Government would give permission for the work to go ahead. I am sure that it is much easier in this country to get public backing for a school or a housing project than it is to get aid for general purposes.
I was one of the first group of parliamentarians to visit Beirut for 20 years. We found Britain well regarded because our embassy, unlike most others, stayed open throughout the civil war. As Prime Minister Hariri told us, that should provide opportunities for the involvement of British firms in the huge programme of renewal. However, it also gives us the ability to ask questions about the status of the refugees.
Our ambassador played a direct part in ensuring that we visited the camps. We should say that, while we fully understand why Lebabon denies citizenship for internal reasons, the legal status of the refugees should give them the rights of residence, shelter, work, education, health, social security, the protection of the law and democratic freedom. We must recognise that Lebanon alone cannot deal with that and that solutions within a wider context are essential--solutions guaranteed and underpinned by a UN framework. Visually, Beirut is still disturbing, but the experience of Shatila and Burj-El-Barajneh and our talks with their people was not just physically but emotionally unsettling. The peace process has brought flickers of hope to many. We must work to stop it bringing, at the same time, despair to others.
Britain, in Europe, has an important role. Historically, we know the region and its peoples. We must strengthen those forces and agencies for conciliation and help Lebanon to improve the prospects for all who live there, including those who, after 46 years, are still unwelcome guests.
2.49 pm
The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Mr. Douglas Hogg) : I am glad that the hon. Member for Morley and Leeds, South (Mr. Gunnell) has chosen to raise this important subject on the Adjournment. I am also glad to see two of my hon. Friends here : my hon. Friend the Member for Leeds, North-East (Mr. Kirkhope) has a particular interest in the middle east, and my hon. Friend the Member for Hendon, South (Mr. Marshall) is well known for his concern about all matters relating to Israel.
Mr. John Marshall (Hendon, South) : Does my right hon. and learned Friend accept that the problem of refugees in the middle east goes somewhat wider than outlined by the hon. Member for Morley and Leeds, South (Mr. Gunnell) ? Does he accept that, in the immediate aftermath of the formation of the state of Israel, there were also a large number of Jewish refugees, and that the difference between the state of Israel and the state of Lebanon was that Israel provided jobs and houses for the Jewish refugees ? Is it not a pity that Lebanon, Syria and Jordan did not do the same for the refugees that they received ?
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Mr. Hogg : My hon. Friend has shown his customary ingenuity in making the point that I knew he wanted to raise. However, it enables me to welcome the fact that my hon. Friend the Member for Harrow, West (Mr. Hughes) is also here. He, too, has a well-known concern for the affairs of Israel.
The serious problems of the 1948 Palestinian refugees have always been a major concern of the international community. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency--UNRWA--was set up to deal with just those problems. UNRWA established its headquarters in Beirut in May 1950 and, since then, has played a significant role in the lives of Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon.
UNRWA provides services to some 2.8 million registered refugees in the region. Those services include basic education, health, social services and income generation. The United Kingdom sits on the seven-member advisory commission to UNRWA in Vienna and we fully support its work throughout the region.
UNRWA quoted the number of registered refugees in Lebanon as around 335,000 at the end of last year. Of these, more than 150,000 live in 12 camps run by UNRWA, and 95 per cent. of the Palestinians living in UNRWA refugee camps in Lebanon are 1948 refugees.
No one doubts that the hardships faced by the Palestinians who went to Lebanon in 1948 have been especially severe. Not only did they leave their houses in 1948, but they subsequently found themselves in the middle of a brutal civil war. The horrors of the massacres in Sabra and Shatila refugee camps are known to us all. UNRWA itself was forced to move its headquarters from Beirut to Vienna.
The refugees in Lebanon today still find themselves in a difficult political environment, in many ways outside the society that hosts them. That problem was described by the hon. Member for Morley and Leeds, South. UNRWA is working to rehouse refugees who have been displaced from property in which they sheltered during the war, property which the Lebanese are now hoping to restore to its rightful owners during the process of reconstructing Lebanon.
Although the delicate situation in Lebanon has affected the situation of the Palestinians there--through no fault of their own--we must recognise the contribution made to those refugees by their hosts. We welcome that help.
We are concerned about the continuing difficulties in the south of Lebanon, not least because they periodically affect the refugee population. We are supporting fully the peace process which we hope will lead to a permanent peace settlement. We have welcomed Israeli Government statements to the effect that they have no claims on Lebanese territory or water resources. We hope that they can be translated into action and look forward to the full implementation of Security Council resolution 425.
We have consistently called for the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Lebanon as provided for in the Taif accord. In this context, we have been encouraged to see the Lebanese armed forces play a far more active role in maintaining peace and security in Lebanon. They will have a key role to play in the establishment of lasting stability.
Lebanon has now embarked on an ambitious programme of reconstruction which the British Government whole-heartedly support. There is a renewed mood of confidence, and British companies are actively participating in the reconstruction process. We recognised the progress that Mr. Hariri's Government had made when we restored Export Credits Guarantee Department cover in
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