Speech by PM Tony Blair to LFI Annual Reception - 26 September, 2006
"It is a privilege to be back here again at LFI and to say to you that I think for all of us who are friends of Israel we have watched with great concern and anxiety and worry at what has happened in the past few months and we know that things have been very difficult for people in the region but particularly for people who have been most engaged in the recent conflict in the Lebanon. And I knew when I was in Israel just a few weeks ago how difficult it had been for many many people, and perhaps impossible for people to understand when outside of the region just what it is like to be involved in a conflict such as that.
And we grieve for all those who have lost their lives in that conflict but the tragedy is that the conflict itself should never have began and was itself only a proxy for a wider conflict. And what we have to do is systematically and piece by piece try to bring change in the Middle East.
There is something I think that needs to be said on behalf of Israel today and came through to me clearly in all the discussions I had with Israeli Ministers from different political parties in the Israeli Government. Israel wants peace with its neighbours, Israel wants to live in harmony with those of different religions, of different faiths and different races in the region, Israeli simply wants to know that those other countries in the region respect it on its desire to live in peace and are prepared to recognise the most basic and fundamental thing which is it's right to exist.
And I believe that is a reasonable position for Israel to adopt and I knew there would never be an end to the conflict in the Lebanon unless it came about as a result of a United Nations resolution that ensured that the fighting and the conflict could actually stop on terms that meant that both sides were obliged to stop and reach a settlement.
And one of the things that was most frustrating for me all the way through that period, very very difficult was that people, because we were not saying the things we were supposed to say, almost took it for granted we were saying 'we do not care what happens, we do not care if innocent people were dying'. The fact is that innocent people’s lives should never have been put at risk, the conflict should never have been begun and the only way it is ever going to change is when there is a Lebanese Government in charge of the whole of Lebanon and a resolution of the issues there in the region.
And I meant what I said today about dedicating myself to advancing the process of peace between Israel and Palestine. It is very difficult. At the moment when I again reflect on what I learnt in Israel a few weeks ago, the truth is people yearn for peace but - I think if we are honest about it - have in recent times given up hope of it happening. And that of sense of people drawing back and feeling that the situation is hopeless is the first thing we have to change because the terrible tragedy of the situation is that, yes there are difficult issues that have to be resolved, the territories the refugees, Jerusalem, everybody knows the issues but in the end everyone also knows that the vast majority of Israelis and the vast majority of Palestinians - given the chance would want to live in peace side by side with each other in a state for the Palestinians in a state of Israel - the one viable, the other confident of its security.
And if we could only bring about the reassurance of some element of hope that the processes can be advanced, then I think people would start to see again, the possibilities of peace in the future, even if the present is difficult and dark. And the most difficult thing is when people really give up the sense that it is possible to do it.
Now I am - look you have to be in my job - I am an eternal optimist and the one thing I learnt with the process in Northern Ireland is that you just never stop striving. And you never give up because the interesting thing is that most people in any of these situations want peace. But there are people who, for various reasons often unconnected with the welfare of the majority of the people, want to create trouble.
No, we have got to forge a process in which those who want to disrupt the natural desire of the majority of Israelis and Palestinians to love in peace, we have to forge a process in which that decent majority on either side can come together. And there is something very simple and obvious here. If we brought about a situation in which Colonel Shalit was released, which of course he should be, where we are then able to have a national unity Government on the Palestinian side that was faithful to the principles set out by the Quartet, that is the United Nations, as well as America, Europe and Russia. If we were able to do that and if we were then able to get other confidence building measures from the Israeli side as well, within a short space of time we could get to the point were people started to see some possibility of progress again.
And that is why I say it is so important for - and I will give this same message to the Arab Ambassadors evening that I will go to later tonight - it is so important that anyone with influence in this region, there is nothing more cruel than to advocate the cause of the Palestinian people but not strive for the conditions in which their conditions could actually be improved.
And that is why it is an obligation on everyone in the region to do their utmost to bring people together. And I believe it could be done but it could only be done on some very very clear principles. Those principles are that there should be an acceptance of the two state solution which must means if there are two states, Israel as well as Palestine and that should be accepted throughout the whole of that region, but by all the Arab nations of the region. Secondly, that the way to negotiate a settlement is through democracy and not through violence. Thirdly that terrorism has absolutely no place in the politics of peace at all. And fourthly, we realise the importance once we get a peace process going, of economic development and regeneration going alongside the politics.
Now it is difficult, of course it is difficult but I remember when we first began with the Northern Ireland peace process, people told us it was hopeless. Indeed ten years ago when we started, the Northern Ireland peace process was in a worse situation than that in the Middle East. We have no option if we care about Israel, if we care about the plight of the Palestinians, if we care about the peace of that region, we have no option but to strive for the re-launch of that peace process and when I said earlier that I intend to do everything I could to advance it, I mean that. I went there once, I will go back again. I will give my time and commitment as much as it takes in any way that I can do to help. And I do it because I passionately believe that if this conflict is not resolved the consequences for Israel are dire, the consequences for the Palestinian people are terrible, but what is more the consequences for the world are disastrous.
So it will not be easy but one thing for all the criticism over the past few months, I can tell you this. I have never actually found it hard to be friend of Israel, I am proud to be a friend of Israel. Whatever differences there are with whatever government is in power from time to time, it is a democracy it has a right to exist. It is actually a country that if only we could change the conditions in the region, could live willingly in peace and be in many ways particularly in economic development and indeed in some ways political development, a model for the region. And you can rest assured with the commitment I gave earlier today I mean to carry out. So many many thanks, all of you for having me along this evening all the very best to the Labour Friends of Israel. This may be the last occasion I address you at a fringe meeting at conference but I will back as a delegate next year. All the best."