Conclusions and recommendations
The security situation
1. The
international community withheld support for the National Unity
Government—itself an attempt to establish a stable and functioning
government in the territories—and bolstered one side against
the other which increased tension between Hamas and Fatah. This
build-up of tension was followed in June 2007 by the violent
takeover by Hamas of the Gaza strip. We condemn this takeover
which resulted in unnecessary deaths and a deepened rift between
Hamas and Fatah. (Paragraph 7)
2. The policy of seeking
to isolate Hamas in Gaza has neither improved security nor caused
Hamas to shift its position. The pattern of violence and retribution
between the Israeli Defence Force and Hamas militants has resulted
in insecurity for Israelis and Palestinians. Innocent civilians
have been killed on both sides although the death toll is by no
means equal. As we noted in our previous Report, Israel has a
right to security but the measures taken to ensure this should
be proportionate. We also noted that the actions of both parties
were damaging to the prospects for a peaceful settlement. We therefore
wholeheartedly welcome the truce brokered by Egypt in June and
call on all parties to abide by it and to accelerate the removal
of the blockade on Gaza. (Paragraph 13)
3. We recommend that
the UK Government increase its efforts to persuade Israel to allow
students from Gaza and the West Bank to exit from those territories
to take up courses for which they have been accepted in the UK
and other countries abroad. (Paragraph 14)
The responsibility to ensure humanitarian access
4. Blocking
civilian access to humanitarian supplies is an unacceptable practice
which should not be condoned. While minimal humanitarian supplies
have generally been allowed entry these fall short of requirements.
At other times the borders have been closed to all such supplies.
We believe the UK Government and the Quartet should not only have
more assertively condemned the blockade of Gaza but should have
exerted much greater diplomatic pressure on the Government of
Israel to lift the blockade in practice. It is clear to us that
ways must be found to ensure full humanitarian access and the
current truce offers an important opportunity for this. We appreciate
that Israel needs to ensure that its security is not compromised
but we do not accept that the crossings should be closed for political
objectives. (Paragraph 29)
Hamas' responsibilities
5. Disrupting
humanitarian supplies through attacks on border crossings is also
an unacceptable practice and should not be condoned. With the
current truce in place we call on Hamas to ensure that rocket
fire into Israel ceases and to do all in its power to ensure the
safe transfer and distribution of humanitarian supplies in Gaza.
(Paragraph 31)
A humanitarian access cell
6. We
support the proposal to develop a UN humanitarian access cell
for Gaza as a matter of urgency. We wish to be kept informed of
its start date and its full remit. We agree that it should not
prejudice efforts to reopen fully the crossings into Gaza. (Paragraph
32)
The Palestinian Reform and Development Plan
7. The
economic situation in the West Bank may have improved since our
last Report, but only marginally. The economy in Gaza has collapsed
since the June 2007 closures. In both places many people continue
to live in conditions of deep poverty and the economy is heavily
reliant on aid. We welcome the decision by donors to restore direct
funding to the Palestinian Authority. We were highly critical
of the UK Government's decision to stop this funding in 2006 and
the severe fiscal pressure it placed on the Palestinian Authority.
We are encouraged by the Palestinian Authority's efforts to reform,
as outlined in the Palestinian Reform and Development Plan and
in particular to reduce the public sector payroll. We encourage
donors to contribute on a predictable basis to the Palestinian
Authority's budget as part of the effort to strengthen the institutions
of a future Palestinian state. We request that the Government
updates us on the PA's estimated fiscal deficit for 2008 in its
response to this Report. (Paragraph 41)
The importance of improving movement and access
8. One
of the major barriers to the development of a viable Palestinian
economy is the continued restrictions on movement and access which
Israel insists were put in place to enhance the security of it
citizens. Increased donor assistance, while welcome, will not
be sufficient to turn around the economic downturn which has pervaded
the Palestinian economy since 2000 without significant and long-term
removal of such restrictions. While efforts to remove some strategic
checkpoints may be useful, such agreements lack permanence and
can easily be replaced by other restrictions. It is also important
from development and human rights perspectives that Palestinians
are able to move around their own country for education, to receive
healthcare, to visit their families, to work and to trade, irrespective
of whether their journeys are regarded as strategically significant
to international negotiations. Neither Israel nor the international
community should lose sight of this. The Government of Israel
signed up to the Agreement on Movement and Access in 2005. We
believe it must respect such commitments. (Paragraph 47)
Expanding settlements and the construction of
the Barrier
9. We
do not believe there is any justification for the continued expansion
of settlements. This creates new 'facts on the ground' which then
have to become part of the negotiations for a final agreement.
Such actions on the part of the Government of Israel undermine
the prospects for a successful peace process. We believe that
this continued flouting of international law should be condemned
unreservedly by the international community. The international
community should also identify how it can more effectively persuade
Israel to abide by its obligations in practice. (Paragraph 51)
The EU-Israel Association Agreement
10. We
are surprised that the EU has decided to upgrade its relationship
with Israel while it continues to flout international law. In
its reply to this Report, the Government should provide more details
on the exact nature of this upgrading and the UK Government's
position on it. We also request clarification on whether Israel
has once again withheld funds which rightfully belong to the Palestinian
people and what action the UK proposes to take as a result. (Paragraph
52)
EU funding mechanisms
11. We
welcome the creation of the PEGASE in as much as it provides donors
with a new mechanism through which to support the Palestinian
Authority. We also welcome the EU's direct re-engagement with
the Palestinian Authority. The PEGASE will, like the Temporary
International Mechanism, enable the payment of Palestinian Authority
salaries in both the West Bank and Gaza. However the PEGASE has
been created in the context of a humanitarian crisis in Gaza and
political and institutional developments in the West Bank which
largely exclude Gaza. As such the PEGASE can only be a limited
response to a severe humanitarian and political crisis. (Paragraph
56)
The work of the Quartet Representative
12. In
our last Report we encouraged DFID to find ways to facilitate
private sector development in situations of conflict. The efforts
by the Quartet Representative to achieve this are welcome. We
would like an update, as part of the Government's response to
this Report, on the progress of these projects, including the
removal of checkpoints, the creation of the Jenin Industrial Park
and the improvements to the Beit Lahia sewage treatment facility
in Gaza. (Paragraph 66)
13. We recognise the
problem that economic development in an occupied territory is
bound to be constrained by the presence of the occupiers but this
should not be allowed to deter the international community from
pursuing economic initiatives to relieve the hardship faced by
the people forced to live under occupation. A pragmatic response
is needed. Economic development should go ahead where it is supported
by the local Palestinian community. (Paragraph 67)
14. Care must be taken
that the Quartet does not lose sight of the objective, set out
in the Agreement on Movement and Access, of creating a contiguous
Palestinian state. It needs to be satisfied that economic projects
do not risk creating a series of Palestinian economic enclaves
which may be linked to each other and perhaps the outside world
by a discrete series of roads and entry/exit points but which
do not promote the creation of a contiguous Palestinian state
and which still leave most Palestinians unable to travel freely
around their own land. There is a danger that this in turn could
lead to the creation of two parallel universes in the West Bank
since Israeli settlements already have their own network of much
less restricted roads and services linking them to Israel and
the outside world. The international community must take care
that it does not end up legitimising the occupation and allowing
Israel permanently to extend its borders into the West Bank rather
than creating an independent Palestinian state alongside its own
territory. (Paragraph 68)
15. We recommend that
the Quartet regularly assess its economic projects before and
during implementation to ensure that the issues which we have
highlighted are addressed. However, we believe the Quartet Representative's
efforts are important and should continue in cooperation with
both the Israeli and Palestinian governments. (Paragraph 69)
Improving Palestinian security
16. The
international community should do more to press Israel to release
all prisoners it holds without trial, including parliamentarians,
and do more to press Hamas to secure the release of Corporal Shalit
who was captured in June 2006.
(Paragraph 74)
17. It
is vital to develop credible and capable Palestinian security
forces in the West Bank and Gaza. All efforts made in this regard
are welcome and we fully support the Quartet Representative in
his endeavours. It is equally important that commitments made
by Israel to allow Palestinian security forces to operate in the
West Bank are honoured. To this end we recommend that progress
toward establishing an effective Palestinian security force be
monitored by a designated third party. (Paragraph
75)
Involving all parties
18. The
Quartet and the UK Government have supported the Annapolis Peace
conference in the face of what appears to many to be a difficult,
if not impossible situation—increased attacks by both Israel
and Palestinian groups over the last year, the lack of Palestinian
unity, a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, continued obstacles to movement
and access, the construction of the Barrier on occupied land and
the expansion of settlements in the West Bank. Whilst it is important
to be optimistic in situations of ongoing conflict the international
community must do more to ensure that all parties address these
issues if a peace deal is to be credible.
(Paragraph 86)
19. The
international community must also do more to ensure that the issues
we have raised are addressed in practice as well as in theory.
The Quartet is right to insist that a lasting settlement must
be based on both Israel and Palestine recognizing each other's
right to exist, on an end to violence and on acceptance by both
parties of existing agreements. Following the Hamas victory in
the parliamentary elections of 2006, the Quartet decided that
acceptance of these principles would become a precondition to
its even having any dialogue with any Palestinian government which
included Hamas. This approach has achieved very little in the
last two years and has contributed to increasing tension between
Hamas and Fatah. The Hamas armed takeover of Gaza was neither
justified nor acceptable and the international community is right
to recognize the government of the West Bank and Gaza appointed
by President Abbas. However, it remains important to bring Hamas
into dialogue and into the peace process. The current truce between
Israel and Hamas brokered by Egypt provides the opportunity to
do that. We urge the UK Government and the international community
to seize this opportunity. (Paragraph 87)
The Egyptian-brokered truce
20. We
hope that the truce will hold and that the period of calm will
be used to reassess strategies for progress towards peace. Hamas
must be encouraged to meet the Quartet conditions and Israel must
open the borders and allow full humanitarian access. Much is required
of both parties and we hope each will step up to its responsibilities.
Equally the international community must at all costs avoid supporting
measures that add legitimacy to, or entrench, the occupation and
lead effectively to two states sharing the same territory in the
West Bank. Instead it should press as hard as possible for a long-term
solution and to maintain the momentum towards peace. It failed
to do this when the National Unity Government was formed, with
dire consequences. The current truce provides another opportunity
to move forward after a prolonged period of seeming hopelessness.
This moment of optimism must be seized and the peace process advanced
with energy and commitment on all sides.
(Paragraph 89)
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