Downing Street Says » Middle East Crisis

Put that the Prime Minister had said we were in full support of Israel, but there seemed to be more anxiety than usual about what their actions might be, and what were the feelings about it all, the PMOS replied that the Prime Minister viewed the current situation as very serious. The Prime Minister also reiterated that the kidnapped soldiers should be released. All sides needed to act with restraint, because the reality was that at some point, we needed to get back to the roadmap and negotiations, and we needed to do so urgently. It was precisely to stop this kind of escalation that we needed to get back to negotiations.

Put that the EU had voiced concerns about the Israelis using a disproportionate use of force and did we accept they had acted disproportionately, the PMOS replied that as the Prime Minister had said this morning, people in general might want to get into the finger pointing game, but that was not what was important. What was important was that the hostages were released and that people acted with restraint and get back to politics and that we did so as a matter of some urgency. The Prime Minister had clearly set out his position this morning, and what mattered much more than textual analysis was actually doing something about it. That was why the Prime Minister yesterday had spoken to the Lebanese Prime Minister, and why we were also in contact with Israel, and why he had spoken to the UN Secretary General. It was also why we welcomed the UN envoy going to the region, so that we did something about it all.

Asked what the Prime Minister’s concerns were for the safety of British citizens in the region, especially Lebanon, the PMOS said that the FCO had issued advice to British citizens in the area. Their best advice was to stay where they were and adopt a low profile, and to ensure that they were in touch with the embassy.

Asked to explain what the Prime Minister had meant when he had talked about not resolving it, and was he referring to Israeli action, the PMOS replied that this issue arose out of the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers in Gaza. That was followed by Israeli action in Gaza. Then, there were further kidnappings, followed by Israeli actions in Lebanon. Last night, there were rockets being fired into Israel, and there was a sequence of events, and it was that sequence that had to be stopped unfolding, as it stopped politics working. That was what people needed to do with some urgency.

Asked if we shared the analysis of some of the Israeli Government that it was Syria and Iran using Hezbollah and Hamas to rip up trouble, the PMOS replied that as he had said yesterday, the important thing was that all countries in the region did whatever was necessary to stop this sequence of events re-occurring. Everyone must have realised that it was in nobody’s interests to let this escalate further, but it was in everyone’s interests to de-escalate it.

Asked if the international community had not been as engaged on this matter as perhaps they should have been, the PMOS said that we had been engaged talking to people from an early stage in this. We knew that others had also been engaged talking to people. The important thing was that we pushed forward in an essential and urgent way as possible, and that was what the Prime Minister was trying to convey. This was something that we should not just let happen, but rather, we had to show urgency. That was why the G8, although it did not have a formal role, would be a useful forum for discussing with other world leaders what should be done. The PMOS said that it would be formally on the agenda at the G8, but also informally part of discussion.

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» Friday, July 14, 2006

Middle East Crisis

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