David Steel: Israel should be called to account over harsh reality of life in Gaza

LAST year's "Operation Cast Lead" by the Israeli Defence Force in Gaza left 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead. More than a year later, the destruction in Gaza of homes, schools, factories and parts of hospitals is still there for all to see.

This month, I led a six-person delegation there on behalf of the Inter-Parliamentary Union's UK branch. We were the guests of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). Since the Israeli authorities don't encourage visitors to Gaza, we could not cross their border at the Erez crossing but had to enter through Egypt's Rafah crossing.

For that, we needed two letters, one from UNRWA and the other from our embassy in Egypt. The latter, "cleared" by London, listed our names, birthdates and passports and said they had advised us not to go as travel to Gaza was "reckless", a not very helpful reference about which I have protested to Foreign Secretary David Miliband, especially since our intervention secured the release of the British journalist Paul Martin.

The devastation was worse than I had expected. I knew homes had been destroyed and that people were living in tents, but I had not appreciated the full impact of the destruction of almost the entire private sector of the economy, with 85 per cent unemployment; their equivalent of the CBI, businessmen not involved in politics, bitterly complained the economy is, as a result, wholly controlled by a combination of Hamas and a growing mafia operating the 1,000 or so tunnels into Egypt through which most goods travel. We walked into one of these. The power of Hamas (elected in the majority in Gaza) was supposed to have been destroyed by Israeli policy – they have, in fact, increased their grip on life in Gaza. Leaving aside the stupidity of the policy, it is the inhumanity of it that left a lasting impression on us. Construction materials are not allowed into Gaza. UNRWA has major housing projects (funded by us and other international taxpayers) which cannot be built because there is little cement, steel or other necessary materials. Hundreds of thousands of families are wholly dependent on food rations supplied by UNRWA. We saw for ourselves people queuing in an orderly manner to collect sacks of flour, cooking oil, rice and dried milk. Fresh food and vegetables they have to buy at local markets with precious little resources.

Gaza, with its 1.5 million population, is like one big, open-air prison camp, with movement of people and goods in and out tightly controlled. It is an outrage, contrary to international law, and rightly condemned by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

Of course, the Palestinians should operate with political unity, but having talked with both Fatah and Hamas, we found no sign of that beyond verbal expressions of desire for reconciliation. Of course, too, they should clamp down on the terrorists who fire rockets randomly into Israel, but they have had even less success than the Northern Irish in tracking down extremist violent groups who provide Israel with their excuses for their policy.

There are signs of growing irritation in Washington with the intransigence of the Israeli government, but what concerns us is that British and European policy is so supine. The EU has a trade agreement with Israel, and we take some 40 per cent of their exports. So we do have clout if we are prepared to use it. The agreement says it is based "on respect for human rights and democratic principles, which guides their internal and international policy and constitutes an essential element of this agreement".

Plainly, the Israeli government is in flagrant breach of that provision, and they should be told the agreement will be suspended until they start to comply with it.

• Lord Steel of Aikwood is a member of the all-party Britain-Palestine Group in parliament.