# Posted 6:48 PM by Ariel David Adesnik  

BLAIR DEFENDS ISRAEL: First from the leader of the Liberal Democrats, then from a Labour backbencher:

Menzies Campbell (Fife North East, Liberal Democrat): Yesterday, the House joined the Prime Minister in condemning Hezbollah's bombardment of Israel, but how can we be even-handed if we are not willing to condemn Israel's disproportionate response, which the Prime Minister of Lebanon has described as cutting his country to pieces?

Tony Blair (Prime Minister): Let me repeat what I said yesterday. It is important that Israel's response is proportionate and does its best to minimise civilian casualties, but it would stop now if the soldiers who were kidnapped—wrongly, when Hezbollah crossed the United Nations blue line—were released. It would stop if the rockets stopped coming into Haifa, deliberately to kill innocent civilians. If those two things happened, I promise the right hon. and learned Gentleman that I will be the first to say that Israel should halt its operations.

Menzies Campbell (Fife North East, Liberal Democrat): I am not sure that that squares with the Prime Minister's conversations with President Bush. In the course of those conversations, did he understand that it was America's policy to allow Israel a further period for military action? Is that why the UK is not calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire?

If the right hon. and learned Gentleman is seriously saying that I should call for an unconditional ceasefire by Israel now—[Hon. Members: "Both sides."] I should call for both sides to do it? May I just point out to the right hon. and learned Gentleman that our influence with Hezbollah has been somewhat limited? It would not be possible. Does he not understand that Hezbollah fired somewhere in the region of 1,600 rockets into northern Israel?

I agree that what is happening in Lebanon is tragic and terrible, not least for the Lebanese people and the Lebanese Government—a Government who have brought their country out of the dark days into democracy— [ Interruption. ] Yes, but if this is to stop, it has to stop by undoing how it started, and it started with the kidnap of Israeli soldiers and the bombardment of northern Israel. If we want this to stop, that has to stop.

And then later:

Michael Meacher (Oldham West & Royton, Labour): Whatever the proximate causes of the current middle east crisis, is it not clear that there will be no solution while Muslims believe that the political route to a viable and sustainable Palestinian state is blocked and at the same time Israel believes that it can get more by the use of military force and annexation of large tracts of Palestinian land than by seriously negotiating the Quartet road map?

In those circumstances, should we not only be calling on the EU to demand a very clear and unambiguous statement of a ceasefire but, more important, more vigorously confronting the United States that, if it does not put considerably more pressure on Israel for a—

Michael Martin (Speaker): Order. That is far too long.

Tony Blair (Prime Minister): You see, there is a problem with the negotiated solution to this. After all, it is now clear that everyone wants a two-state solution, and the road map is there and agreed by the whole of the Quartet, including the European Union, the UN, Russia and America, obviously.

This problem is not being held back by America or by anyone's intransigence and refusal to negotiate; it is being held back by the fact that we cannot even begin the essential preconditions for the road map to exist properly. Those essential preconditions are about security and about ensuring that, for example, the thing that sparked everything on Gaza, which was to do with the kidnap of an Israeli soldier, and other such things stop.

I share my right hon. Friend's concern. I pushed for the adoption of the road map. I pushed for a two-state solution. But in the end the only negotiated way through this is by everyone committing themselves to exclusively peaceful, democratic means, and that has to hold on both sides of the border—not just on the Israeli side but also on the Palestinian side.

But how much longer will Blair remain prime minister? Two more years? Three at most? Enter Gordon Brown. (0) opinions -- Add your opinion