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HOWARD'S WAY.... a weekly column from Michael Howard MP

27 July 2006

 

Last weekend Sandra opened two events which I was unable to attend.

The first was the County Mice Needlecraft Exhibition in New Romney on Friday. It was in aid of Macmillan Cancer Relief and the needlework was quite exquisite and will last for generations.

On Saturday she stood in for me at the Etchinghill Summer Fete and Craft Show in aid of three local causes. It was very well attended and, I am told was terrific. A good time was had by all.

It’s all a very far cry from the images of death and destruction which have once again filled our television screens.

I have long thought that the unique nature of the tragedy in Israel-Palestine is that, unlike many of the other problems the world faces, it is not difficult to identify what a final settlement in this area will look like.

One day there will be two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in more or less peaceful co-existence. It is not even very difficult to identify the borders of the two states. They will resemble, probably very closely, the borders which were so nearly agreed at Taba just a few years ago.

The trouble is that this settlement is not available while there is so much distrust on both sides and the painful question, to which no-one knows the answer, is how long will we have to wait for this distrust to ease and how many lives will be lost, on both sides of the divide, before this happens.

I am sure I speak for everyone in enforcing the hope that by the time you read this, a few days after I write it, the fighting will have stopped and some kind of truce will have been reached.

This is a region which means so much to the world and has such tremendous potential for all its people that we must all hope and pray that a solution is put in place, sooner rather than later, to end this unique tragedy.