Day after day I have been shocked by the scale of the human suffering in Gaza. People throughout history have described war as heroic or noble. The pictures from Gaza prove to us that this isn’t true. It is the weak and the innocent who suffer. Young children who have done no wrong were being pulled from rubble, dead or badly injured. Mothers are mourning for sons; sisters for brothers.
The British government was convinced since the start that violence was not going to resolve this conflict. We urgently needed a diplomatic solution. Prime Minister Gordon Brown had been calling for an immediate cease-fire, because he understood that the root causes of the fighting had to be settled by negotiation. Well over a thousand people died in over 20 days of unrelenting violence.
In New York, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal worked side by side to deliver UN Security Council Resolution 1860 which called for an immediate and sustainable cease-fire. Both men deserve credit for their commitment to achieving the resolution. The international community spoke clearly. The tragedy was that the combatants did not listen.
The British government is now focused on ensuring the sustained implementation of the Security Council Resolution 1860 and on alleviating the humanitarian suffering in Gaza. Secretary of State for International Development Douglas Alexander has already announced that the first part of the UK government’s emergency support for the Palestinian people will go to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency to help Palestinian refugees who were already the most vulnerable people in Gaza. The UK money will provide drinking water, emergency fuel, and cash payments for families. And like Saudis, British people have been donating in their tens of thousands to support the Palestinian people.
So we have been working for a cease-fire. But we have also been planning for the day after. I agree with those who say that this conflict has made the prospects for peace more distant. Talking about peace as violence has engulfed families and communities sounded naive. But this conflict has demonstrated that a peaceful resolution to the Arab-Israeli conflict has never been more urgent. In 2006 it was Lebanon. In 2008/9 Gaza. We must stop this cycle of violence before it costs more innocent lives.
I will say it bluntly. There is no alternative to negotiations. Israel is not going to disappear. Neither will Palestine. We need two states, secure, prosperous and viable. That is not going to happen from the barrel of the gun. Foreign Secretary David Miliband is convinced that we need a comprehensive solution, one that sees that a resolution to the Palestinian, Lebanese and Syrian conflicts. In return, the Arab world will accept Israel and normalize relations with it. This in a nutshell is the Arab peace initiative that Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has personally championed. Today voices across the Arab world are calling for the Arab peace initiative to be suspended. I assure you this would be a tragedy. How would removing the incentive for peace help the people of Gaza?
The people of Gaza have suffered terribly. They ran out of essentials: Food, clean water and fuel. The hospitals are today overflowing and lacking the supplies necessary to treat the wounded. The children of Gaza will bear the physical and psychological scars of this conflict for years to come. Now that the fighting has stopped, the long task of rebuilding Gaza must begin.
So the suffering has been unacceptable and now the challenge for the international community is clear. What is at stake is the future stability and peace of the entire region. However distant peace seems, the alternative is more suffering, more destruction and more misery.
— Sir William Patey is the British ambassador to Saudi Arabia.
