CONSERVATIVE
New Forest East

FOREIGN AFFAIRS – PALESTINE AND ISRAEL - 13 October 2014

FOREIGN AFFAIRS – PALESTINE AND ISRAEL - 13 October 2014

[Mr Mike Hancock: … The people of Palestine have waited 65 years to get the justice they deserved. We did not listen then: when we could have given a two-state solution in ’48, we chose not to do it. People made that biggest mistake.]

Dr Julian Lewis: I am sorry to correct the hon. Gentleman on an historical point, but my understanding is that the UN did vote for a two-state solution and five Arab armies then invaded Israeli territory, so it is not quite as he suggests, I think.

[Mr Hancock: The hon. Gentleman will recollect that those five Arab states were seeking more of a reassurance that their borders would also be safeguarded, so it was a two-edged sword, I am afraid. We therefore have to be very careful when we talk about that situation.]

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[Crispin Blunt: … In the course of the debate I was delighted to hear the contribution of my right hon. Friend the Member for Croydon South (Sir Richard Ottaway) and see the scales begin to drop from his eyes, with the latest land-grab by the state of Israel. I was slightly surprised by his characterisation of the Six-Day War as an effort to destroy Israel. It was a brilliant Israeli feat of arms to dissipate what appeared to be a coming threat to Israel, but it certainly was not a response to an attack on Israel.]

Dr Julian Lewis: My hon. Friend predicted that he would provoke me to intervene and he has succeeded in that aim. I think the laying of mines across the straits of Tiran could just conceivably be described as an act of war.

[Crispin Blunt: I will let the lawyers and my hon. Friend come to their own conclusion on that … ]