Liberal Democrat MPs Norman Lamb, Willie Rennie and Sandra Gidley together with Liberal Democrat Friends of Israel Chairman, Monroe Palmer, returned on May 28th from a visit to Israel and the West Bank.

In an action packed 4 day programme they spoke to Israeli politicians, Government officials and PLO representatives.

They visited Sderot and Ashkelon to see the frightening  damage and terror inflicted by the missiles from Gaza.

They visited and were impressed by the, state of the art, Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem where they saw and spoke to patients and their families. In the Mother and Child Unit they spoke to two families being treated in the same ward, one a Palestinian family from West Bank Bethlehem and one a religious Jewish Family from Israel both being treated side by side. The delegation spoke to Doctors both Israeli and West Bank Palestinians all working to save lives, Jew, Palestinian or anybody else. They met an Israeli Jewish  woman paralysed from the chest down from bullets fired into her spine whilst travelling to work. However she was bravely carrying on her life. Sadly the Trauma unit of this hospital has  great experience in dealing with serious injuries often from terrorist attacks on civilians, which don’t differentiate between Jew and Arab.

The delegation visited the West Bank where they saw the Barrier. They spoke to many Palestinians, including Fatah members,  about their  need for economic and business  support and reduction in restrictions to travel.

In the final hours of their stay in Israel the Liberal Democrats  felt involved in the political crisis effecting Prime Minister Olmert.  Defence Minister Barak (Labour) had called for the Prime Minister to step down. The LDFI delegation were scheduled to meet female Kadima MK  Brigadier General Amira Dotan. However she, a big supporter of the Prime Minister, had just delivered a letter to the Prime Minister saying that because of his personal legal battles he should turn the leadership over to one of his Kadima colleagues. “Talking to her moments after she had spoken to her Leader  felt like being part of modern history’ said Monroe Palmer.

The LDFI delegation came away with a greater awareness of the complexities of the situation and the need for a two-State solution as soon as is possible.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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LIBERAL DEMOCRAT MPS FACT FINDING MISSION TO ISRAEL   

LDFI arranges Fact Finding visits to Israel for interested Parliamentarians.

To  contact us

Phone: 020 8455 5140

Fax: 020 8209 3496

Or emails as under officers (see home page, left hand side).

Postal Address LDFI PO BOX 57769 London NW11 1GF

Sandra Gidley MP, Norman Lamb MP, Cllr Monroe Palmer OBE,  Willie Rennie MP,  at the police station in S’derot with rocket fragments.

 

 

 

ED DAVY MP, LIB DEM SHOADOW FOREIGN SECRETARY & MARK HUNTER MP, PPS TO NICK CLEGG, VISIT ISRAEL AND THE WEST BANK 

The Party’s Shadow Foreign Secretary Ed Davey MP and Mark Hunter MP, Parliamentary Private Secretary to Leader Nick Clegg visited Israel and the West Bank with Jonathan Davies of the LDFI Committee.   They had a series of high level briefings on the peace process and saw the situation on the ground.

Ed Davey wrote after the visit:

“I would say the biggest impressions on me included much greater optimism for the Israel-Palestinian peace process than I'd expected, a deeper understanding of the Iranian threat not just to Israel but to the Middle East and the world, an insight into the current state of Israeli-Syrian peace talks and confirmation of the significance of water to all peace discussions.”

 

The MP’s with Jonathan Davies in Lloyd George Street.