Shortly after I was appointed minister for the Middle East in May 2010, I asked Downing Street if the UK could become actively involved in assisting the efforts being made by the US to revive and deliver on the Middle East peace process. After a couple of days I had the answer: no, there was no point. The efforts were not going anywhere, the issue was insoluble, and there was little benefit in expending political capital on it when there were other priorities. Although I was disappointed, I cannot say that Prime Minister David Cameron was wrong. The years that followed proved his point, which reflected the common policy belief of the time. But now I am asking again — only this time for the UK to take a lead in a situation which, a dozen years later, is on the brink of catastrophe. So why now, and why the UK? The rising tensions in Israel and the occupied West Bank are obvious. Last year was the deadliest for violence for years, and the toll this year already exceeds the comparative period in 2022. That year followed the outbreak of rare intercommunal violence in Israel in 2021. Israeli military action in the West Bank leaves a trail of death, not only of its terrorist targets but also of the innocent and children. The rise and nature of settler violence appears to be little checked. Terror has returned to the homes of Jewish families in Jerusalem. The potential flashpoint of the holy sites is known to all. A new Israeli government containing elements unthought of in office a decade ago, and a sclerotic Palestinian leadership, will not self-start a peace process. There is no status quo. It is going to get worse. The common response of many governments is the same; the analysis is shared, something very bad is going to happen, but there is nothing to be done. The US is not driving a process, local leadership is absent, and diplomatic bandwidth is taken up by the immediacy of Ukraine and the calculations deriving from it. However, there are no vacuums in foreign policy. If someone is not attempting something good, either other actors or events will conspire to create something bad. There are no vacuums in foreign policy. If someone is not attempting something good, either other actors or events will conspire to create something bad. Alistair Burt So why should the UK take it up? There are three good reasons. First, Britain’s history in the region is unique. It has not all been good, but we know that, and use that history to work for better ends. The UK is not the most powerful or the wealthiest of states with interests in the region, but it has a depth of knowledge, commitment and relationships that give it a hearing above its material strengths. Second, the UK has strong ties to both Israel and the Palestinians. Surface relationships are good, from trade and security with Israel to support for the Palestinian Authority, for UNWRA, in defense of threatened communities for Palestinians, and a “no contact” policy toward Hamas that suits both. But beneath the surface, all UK ministers know the unseen events and decisions made, when we have not said publicly what we could have done about each, in efforts to keep an equilibrium and ensure doors to a peaceful resolution of issues remained open. I think this ought to allow some license to the UK to be more focused and blunter with both. Third, the UK has deep relationships with neighboring Arab states who want a different Middle East, as demonstrated through the Abraham Accords process. The UK has been supportive of this, but it seems unlikely it can advance, or yield the new Middle East that is desired, while the issues between Israel and Palestine are simply unresolved and a new conflict is feared. The UK needs to be clear with its friends that it has a key role to play with both Israel and the Palestinians, not least because there are other actors in the region keen to make the most of any future breakdown to the detriment of all. Arab states should make clear to Israel that it will not make the progress it wishes through its present actions toward the Palestinians, and tell Palestinian leaders from Ramallah to Gaza that there is a risk there will be no international interest in the Palestinian cause within a decade unless they are also prepared to take new steps. In the absence of anything else, the UK should now be using its convening power, from the UN to its relationships, to say that we should no longer be crossing our fingers every morning that some event has not triggered the outbreak of full-scale violence that so many fear. We try again. I would rather the UK werequeried for challenging the hopelessness of the situation today, than organizing the evacuation of its citizens tomorrow. • Alistair Burt is a former UK Member of Parliament who has twice held ministerial positions in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office — as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State from 2010 to 2013 and as Minister of State for the Middle East from 2017 to 2019. Twitter: @AlistairBurtUK