Gaza and Hamas
Debate between Perran Moon and Hamish Falconer(1 day, 19 hours ago)
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Mr Falconer
My friend the hon. and gallant Member is right to focus on some of these practical questions. He, like me, served in countries where peacekeeping forces were unable to keep the peace and unwilling to take casualties, and were therefore unable to fulfil their mandate. These are some of the most central and most delicate questions around the ISF. I hope he will forgive me for not giving a detailed commentary at this time, but I expect to return to the House to provide more detail when I am able.
Perran Moon (Camborne and Redruth) (Lab)
There have been recent press reports that the Israeli Government have been arming factions within Gaza in order to destabilise Hamas. Can the Minister comment on any of those reports? What is the position of the British Government on that?
Mr Falconer
As I said earlier, I will not provide extensive commentary on reports, but clearly safety and security for Gazans will involve Palestinian authorities able to ensure law and order. Those who have been living in Gaza have suffered terribly; there has been widespread looting and violence. I am sure many will pore over the question of who those factions and criminals are and who is supporting them. The key thing now is that security needs to return to Gaza, and that security cannot be provided by the masked Hamas gunmen that the shadow Foreign Secretary rightly referred to at the outset, so that work continues.