Israel: Arab Israeli and Jewish Israeli Communities

Question

14:36:00

Asked by

To ask His Majesty’s Government what support they are giving to grassroots movements in Israel which are working to bring Arab Israeli and Jewish Israeli communities together.

My Lords, the United Kingdom Government remain committed to supporting peaceful coexistence and dialogue. We actively promote interfaith understanding through initiatives such as the Drumlanrig accord. Our diplomatic missions regularly meet with Arab Israeli and Jewish Israeli organisations that promote dialogue and co-operation between Arabs and Jews. For six consecutive years we have funded Search for Common Ground, which has brought together Jewish and Muslim religious leaders for dialogue programmes.

My Lords, I am grateful for the Answer from my noble friend the Minister. At this time of yet more war and violence, we think of Jews and Arabs in Israel who are now in real danger, but we must not let the Israeli-Iranian hostilities obscure the evil destruction of Gaza and the starvation of its people, or the appalling situation in the West Bank. The situation is intolerable. We must support the efforts of movements such as Standing Together, which work across the religious divide, bringing Arab Israeli and Jewish Israeli communities together, working for peace, equality and social justice, desperately trying to find an end to the war. When far-right extremists recently tried to block aid going into Gaza, they formed a humanitarian guard of Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel, which enabled trucks to get through.

Question!

The question is coming, my Lords. These organisations, together with the ones cited by my noble friend, are worthy of our support. I am glad that the Government are supporting them, but I ask all noble Lords to support these organisations, which deserve our solidarity.

I share the opinion of my noble friend. Over the last eight years, I have been actively engaged, along with many noble Lords across the House, with a number of organisations, not least Tracks of Peace, that promote human, racial and religious tolerance, also focusing on business, education, the environment and health—issues that affect all people in Israel and the Occupied Territories. We are absolutely committed to building that dialogue, despite the horrendous situation in which people now find themselves. I thank my noble friend for her question. She is absolutely right; we should not forget the issues underlying community cohesion.

My Lords, I declare my interest as chairman of Jerusalem Foundation in the UK. The Minister will be pleased to hear that British citizens donated $10 million last year to coexistence projects in Jerusalem. I am sure he will agree with me that the fact that Israel, with a 20% Arab population, has not seen violence inside Israel represents success in coexistence and an understanding from the Arab population of what Israel is trying to achieve. Does the Minister agree that it is not clear that the Arab population of east Jerusalem wants a two-state solution, at least not in the near future? Will he ask our consul in east Jerusalem to undertake proper research to understand the views of the citizens of east Jerusalem, so that we can act accordingly?

I thank the noble lord. He is right that we should support all efforts for community cohesion. We are obviously committed to a two-state solution, where the rights of Palestinians and the State of Israel are well protected. Through that, as I said on previous occasions, we are supporting the Palestinian Authority in the reforms it needs to take to ensure that they can properly represent the people of Palestine. We are absolutely committed to that.

My Lords, I thank the Minister for his reference to Search for Common Ground and declare that I am the voluntary chair of its UK board. On a profound visit that I made to the region through the commendable organisation Yachad, I met a family in a kibbutz whose parents had been brutally murdered by Hamas, and they spoke to me very movingly about their desire to carry on their parents’ work to cross a political and geographical divide for peace. I welcome the Statement that humanitarian support from the UK Government will be protected at this difficult time, but will the Minister confirm that development support for organisations such as Yachad and for community and civil society initiatives will be protected?

The Prime Minister has made it clear that Gaza remains the focus and priority of our activity. We are working with a range of groups, and, to repeat what the noble Lord opposite said, we have to recognise that a lot of them are financing themselves. We remain committed to the sort of organisations that the noble Lord referred to because underneath all the tragedy we now see is a genuine desire for peace and progress. That means that we need to see economic development in all parts of Israel and the Occupied Territories.

My Lords, like others who have spoken, I too have been supportive and admiring of the courage and commitment that many, whether Palestinians or Israelis, have put into their peacebuilding organisations, many of them brought together by the Alliance for Middle East Peace. The Minister talks about the two-state solution and how we get there. Does he agree, and are the Government taking steps to ensure, that representatives of ordinary citizens from those communities need to be there to build up that peace process when it eventually comes?

I could not agree more with the noble Baroness. Another important element of this is not only to ensure that a range of communities are properly represented in the future but to focus on our women, peace, and security agenda. Women can play an important role there too, and I am committed to that. We will have plenty of opportunity to address the big picture in our debate on the Statements tonight, but I repeat that, underneath all that, there is a real strong desire on the ground for intercommunity and interfaith organisations, and for economic development to lift people out of the situation they are in.

My Lords, it is vital that UK Aid funds genuinely beneficial operations and organisations which seek to alleviate and promote peaceful coexistence in the region. Can the Minister confirm how regularly the FCDO audits or reviews the activities of NGOs and grass-roots organisations receiving UK funding in the region, and whether any UK-funded organisations operating in Israel or the Occupied Palestinian Territories have ever been subject to investigation for links to proscribed groups?

I cannot give the noble Lord a direct answer because I am not sure in which direction his question is going, but I assure him that the FCDO regularly audits its contributions, not least to ensure that the UK taxpayer has value for money. If there are any reports that raise concerns about how money might be being used not in accordance with the original grant then of course we will investigate them. If the noble Lord has information that I am not aware of, perhaps he can let me have it later.

My Lords, I declare my interests: I am a supporter and member of an organisation called Omdim Beyachad—Standing Together—and, over the years, I have been responsible for the teaching and supervision of many PhD students from Gaza, Israel and the neighbouring Arab countries. I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Royall, on her excellent Question and the Minister on his wonderful answers, which are really helpful. The point is this: creating an important infrastructure for education is important now if we are to achieve some kind of proper peaceful coexistence. The British embassy was extremely useful in helping this, and I hope we can encourage that to occur again in due course, because it is one way in which we must try to help solve the problems in the Middle East.

I thank my noble friend. He is right that there are a range of initiatives. They may seem unimportant at the moment, in the context of the situation that Israel and Palestine find themselves, but it is those routes that are essential for progress. Educational support and support for people who have a strong entrepreneurial instinct for economic growth is what we should be focused on. We should not forget that, despite the terrible conflict that we find ourselves facing at the moment.