David Ward MP's West Bank Diary - Day Five
Yesterday we visited the Israeli Foreign Ministry to meet with senior officials and with Mark Regev, the Israeli Prime Minister's Spokesman. The discussions covered child prisoners, settlements, the recent UN resolution, the forthcoming election, the barriers, Hamas and Fatah and much more.
The message that was repeated was that the Israelis were willing to engage in negotiations "any time, any day" and that nothing would be excluded from the negotiations. We pointed out that the expansion of the settlements and indeed so many of the hatred-provoking activities carried out by Israelis, that we had witnessed first-hand, did not provide any firm basis for negotiations.
The illegality of the settlements was refuted - "how can it be illegal for Jews to return to Hebron?" And most of the other activities such as child prisoners, the barriers and denied access were defended on the basis of security.
My overall feeling, at times overwhelming, was a deeply depressing sadness at the failure of people to be able to live together.
The answer to the conflict will not be achieved, by either side, through violence as each violent act - be it a rocket fired from Gaza, or the welding-up of a front door so that a 60 year old Palestinian woman has to climb over neighbours' roofs to enter her own house, a 15 year old Palestinian boy blind-folded and cable-tied, a suicide bomber on a Tel Aviv bus and more and more and more......each act simply tightens the knot of conflict and reinforces the hatred that exists.
There needs to be a mass and peaceful movement for Palestinian freedom for unless it is peaceful the justification by the Israelis for the activities of the IDF will always be made. In return for this peaceful approach the international community must do far more to show its support for Palestinian freedom and the UK, because of its historical role, should and must take a lead.