Israel and Palestine

Debate between Baroness Elliott of Whitburn Bay and Lord Wood of Anfield

Wednesday 9th September 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Wood of Anfield]

I thank the noble Lord for that question. Dialogue is, of course, fundamental to the way forward in this as in any comparable crisis, and in any complex situation like this. President Herzog urged dialogue. When it comes to the expansion of settlements, though, there seems to be precious little dialogue going on domestically to restrain an accelerating and deeply disturbing trend. I will give the House some statistics: as the noble Lord, Lord Purvis, said, there were about 250,000 settlers in 1993 at the time of Oslo, but in 2026 there are 750,000. There are six settler violence incidents per day, with 65 Palestinian communities expelled in their entirety since 2023. I absolutely agree with the need for dialogue, and I think dialogue should be the first port of call between Israel’s Government and the settler community.

I am sorry, I forget the second part of the noble Lord’s question. I do apologise.

[Baroness Elliott of Whitburn Bay (Lab)]

My Lords, I warmly welcome the Statement by the Foreign Secretary yesterday, particularly the tone in which he delivered it. I truly believe that the calling out of the illegal occupation, and the sanctions on the illegal settlements, is a game-changer in progressing towards peace in the region. While that is happening, and the implementation is key, can my noble friend the Minister say what actions the Government are taking to bring force to bear on some of the other actors in the region, such as Iran and its proxies?

[Lord Wood of Anfield (Lab)]

I thank my noble friend for that question. It is absolutely right that the action we took yesterday, in announcing a new policy on sanctions with regard to the West Bank, was accompanied by further strong action against Iran, in particular by taking action against the supply chain for its nuclear programme. The Labour Government have already—last year—reapplied the snapback mechanism, as some noble Lords know, for United Nations resolutions. We yesterday announced further actions targeting the financial trade, energy and transport sectors, and are targeting financial assistance and the banking of Iranian companies, for those companies connected to the nuclear programme. We are going to expand the sanctioning of vessels involved in activities supporting the nuclear programme. We also took action yesterday in proscribing al-Qard al-Hassan, the financing arm of Hezbollah in Lebanon. Taking strong action against Iran and its proxies, as my noble friend said, is a crucial part of ensuring that Israel remains secure.