The Quartet road map enjoys the support of the international community and represents the best hope of peace in the Middle East. Its aim of a viable, democratic Palestinian state living in peace beside Israel is one to which the European Union, Russia, the United States and the UN Secretary General are fully committed. The need for all parties to the Middle East conflict to engage along the lines of the road map has been stressed on many occasions by the European Union. It is regrettable that the new Government of Israel has not yet given a positive response to the road map as it clearly offers the best hope of peace and security for the people of Israel and the region in general. I hope that, when the road map is formally adopted and published by the Quartet, the Government of Israel will realise the potential it offers and embrace its possibilities.
I am aware of fears that, in the event of hostilities in Iraq, circumstances in the occupied Palestinian territories might deteriorate. However, the fear raised by the Deputy that any Israeli Government would use that opportunity to engage in ethnic cleansing is one that disturbs me greatly and I find it difficult to share. It is hardly credible that people of Israel, conscious as they are of the appalling crimes of genocide visited over generations upon their own nation, would countenance a policy of ethnic cleansing being conducted in their name. However, the Government continues to be deeply concerned about the Israeli Government's ongoing policy of establishing and expanding settlements in the occupied territories. This activity is illegal and must stop. Israel's settlement policy is perhaps the biggest obstacle to peace in the Middle East. To suggest, as some do, that settlement activity should cease only as there is progress towards a peaceful settlement is, in my view, putting the cart before the horse.
As regards the alleged discrepancy between the treatment of Israel and Iraq, the Government is of the view that all resolutions of the United Nations Security Council should be respected and obeyed. This includes both those resolutions applying to Iraq and those relating to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Government regrets the failure of Israel to comply with the wishes of the Security Council expressed in numerous resolutions. However, a significant difference between the two groups of resolutions is that those relating to Iraq have been adopted under Chapter VII of the Charter, which provides for enforcement action by the United Nations, while those relating to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict were adopted under Chapter VI of the Charter, which does not. The fact that resolutions were adopted many years ago does not weaken their force and it is clear to all involved in the search for peace in the Middle East that the provisions of Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338 and other relevant resolutions will form the basis for the eventual settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In the case of Iraq, the Security Council has been applying economic sanctions against Iraq for 12 years in an, as yet, unsuccessful effort to force Iraq to surrender its weapons of mass destruction. Where such sanctions have proved to be inadequate, Article 43 of the UN Charter clearly allows the Security Council to sanction military action as may be necessary to maintain or restore international peace and security.