Wednesday, 21 August 2007
Foreign affairs committee releases Middle East report with evidence from UNA-UK

The House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee has released a report, entitled 'Global Security: The Middle East', containing recommendations for the government's future role in the region and for the work of the Quartet (the UN, US, EU and Russia). Following Annual Conference 2007, UNA-UK submitted written evidence to the inquiry. The report is strongly supportive of the Quartet’s three principles for engaging with Palestinian groups – non-violence; recognition of Israel; and commitment to previous agreements. But while elements of the Quartet treat these principles as preconditions for engagement with Hamas, the select committee recommends that the UK government “urgently consider ways of engaging politically” with moderate Hamas groups, in order to encourage them to meet the Quartet principles. The committee also advises the government to engage with Hezbollah parliamentarians, while continuing to refuse to engage with Hezbollah’s military wing. The decision of the EU not to modify its financial boycott of the Palestinian Authority following the formation of a Palestinian

A German peacekeeper on a patrol ship with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). © UN Photo/Jorge Aramburu

national unity government in February 2007 is criticised as “very damaging”. By maintaining the boycott, the committee says, the international community failed to reward those elements within the national unity government that respected the Quartet principles. The government is asked to continue its efforts to strengthen the Palestinian economy.

The committee expresses its view that the Roadmap for Peace's objectives should remain the basis for a solution to the conflict. However, it argues also that the Roadmap “has largely become an irrelevance in the dynamic of the Arab-Israel conflict ”, its utility undermined by the "unwillingness of the Quartet to challenge robustly the failure of both sides meet their obligations". The committee calls on the international community, acting through the Quartet, to reach agreement on the status of Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees and the borders of a future Palestinian state. The report also welcomes the Arab Peace Initiative.

Israel is criticised for its use of cluster bombs in Lebanon during its 2006 war with Hezbollah. British ministers are also asked to justify why the UK armed forces still hold ‘smart’ cluster munitions given evidence showing that the weapon’s failure rate could be as high as 10 per cent.

To download the select committee report, click here.

To read the evidence submitted by UNA-UK, click here.

In July, the House of Lords concluded their report into the EU and the Middle East Peace Process.
To read the report, click here. To view the evidence, click here.

To view UNA-UK's Annual Conference 2007 policy recommendations on the Middle East, click here.