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David Miliband
(Archived), LondonNext Steps on Middle East
The interview by King Abdullah of Jordan in the Times on Monday puts in stark terms the stakes over the next few months as leaders from the Middle East come to Washington. I set out the UK position at the UN security council on Monday.
Only the two sides can make the compromises necessary for peace. But the international community can support them, and set out steps to ensure any deal is implemented. These "deposits" that I discuss in the speech at the UN make clear how we can make a practical difference.
Historical note: Yitzhak Rabin made a deposit with US Secretary of State Warren Christopher in the early 1990s in respect of the Golan Heights. The idea is simple. You put substance behind the desire for peace.
David Miliband
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13 May 2009
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Urgency in the Middle East
Britain's history in the Middle East produces a mix of anger and admiration. We are blamed for the past - but also called to play a part in shaping the future. Its an odd mixture. I said on Yoosk yesterday that Britain should take its share of the responsibility for how things have turned out.
Saudi Arabia and Jordan are the heart of Arab frustration and fear about the failure to achieve a Palestinian state able to live alongside Israel. Jordan has diplomatic relations with Israel; Saudi Arabia promises them on the achievement of a Palestinian state. The sense of time ticking away from forces of coexistence and cooperation, and the growing fear of rejectionism and violence - some of it prompted from tehran, dominates political and media discussion, and dominated my talks, whether with kings or students.
Every year people say this year is vital. This year is no exception. A new American administration, fears of housing demolition and settlement construction in and around East Jerusalem, the dangers of recurrence of violence in Gaza, and Palestinian elections in January 2010, all make this more true than ever. I said in Jordan that a resolution to the conflict(s) was in the British national interest - because of our ties to Israel and the Palestinians, because of our interest in uniting Israelis and Arabs who both have reason to bury their differences in the face of shared fear of Iranian intentions, and because of the dangers of radicalisation that the conflict produces. We cannot satisfy our national interest by acting as a colonial power. We can by being part of a coalition for a reversal of trends towards divison and disintegration.
David Miliband
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17 April 2009
20 April 2009
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Across the Allenby Bridge...up to Jenin
The Foreign Office has not been able to find an example of the British Foreign Secretary walking across the Allenby Bridge (though the Jordanian Brigadier at the command post proudly told me of how was getting used to taking tea with Tony Blair...). You can see the scene at the pit of the Jordan Valley on Tuesday's Channel 4 News. The road dives down but what one believes from legend to be a teeming river is now little more than a brook, the victim of run-offs higher up. But the bridge marks the crossing from Jordan where General Allenby drove back the Ottoman Empire in 1918.
The purpose of crossing into the West Bank was to drive up to Jenin, until recently to what would have been a no go area for me as Foreign Secretary (according to local people). Jenin is now the test set by Palestinians for themselves to provide security in return for Israeli commitments to wind back roadblocks and checkpoints. The verdict from people was positive - so far.
I visited the Freedom Theatre. This project is situated inside Jenin's refugee camp - and last year involved some 4-500 young people in arts, media, photography. These are people who themselves or whose relatives are recruited to violent extremist groups. But I was told - on film and in person - by a young man in his twenties that he had chosen creativity over destruction. His description of life in the camp was miserable; his confidence in political talks limited; but his rejection of violence as futile was clearly set out. His peers are key to the hope of a decent future.
David Miliband
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13 June 2008
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13 May 2009