I have been horrified by the bloody conflict in Lebanon , which has claimed the lives of some 1,400 people -163 Israelis and over 1200 Lebanese – most of them civilians. Many more have been wounded, and more than a million have been displaced.

I consider the British and US Governments to have been complicit in allowing the Israeli Government to act outside the confines of international law. Israel ’s action in both Gaza and Lebanon is unlawful collective punishment, and the British and US Governments are responsible for having prolonged it by failing to support an earlier UN call for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire. It is clear that Israel interpreted this as a green light to continue its military action both in Lebanon and Gaza .

I welcome the fact that a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon has now been finally agreed and urge the UN and all parties involved to remain steadfast in their commitment to no further acts of aggression. I also call on world leaders to remember that the humanitarian crisis is far from over and the recent destruction of significant Lebanese infrastructure will continue to make it difficult for aid to reach vulnerable people. The UN and aid workers are reporting that many villagers are still searching rubble in vain for the bodies of loved ones, and that Lebanese civilians are continuing to die as a result of unexploded ordnance scattered over residential areas by Israeli cluster bombs during the war.

This use of cluster bombs – as well as depleted uranium munitions and phosphorous bombs, all reportedly fired on Lebanese residential areas by Israeli troops – is clearly prohibited by international law.

The international community should be roundly condemning these and other breaches of the Geneva Conventions and international human rights law, and seeking to prosecute offenders. The US and UK must end their complicity in these offences: the Israeli military received billions of dollars worth of aid from the US every year, and the UK government has approved arms exports worth £25m last year alone, as well as selling night-vision equipment to Iran which has ended up in Hezbollah’s hands - the killing on both sides has been possible thanks to perfectly lawful (but plainly immoral) British arms exports signed off by Tony Blair’s government.

The priority must now be to work for a settlement that puts in place solid foundations for a genuine, long term and fair peace in the region.

The latest conflict dates not from the July kidnapping and killing of Israeli troops by Hezbollah, but in reality it has been simmering away since Israeli troops officially withdrew from Lebanon in 2000. Israel has been flying sorties of fighters at ear-splittingly low altitudes repeatedly over the last six years, with Hezbollah rockets attempting to shoot them down as they violated Lebanese airspace. Since the 2000 withdrawal, regular violence between Hezbollah and Israeli soldiers has taken place in the disputed Shebaa farms area of Southern Lebanon, which Israel has occupied since 1981, considering it to be part of the Golan Heights .

The horrific intensification of this long-simmering conflict between Hezbollah and Israel is itself just the latest chapter in a regional conflict lasting more than 60 years. Until the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands is ended, there can be no lasting peace in the region, and therefore any international attempts to broker peace between Israel and Hezbollah must include proposals to end the occupation and settle all similarly complex land disputes over areas such as the Shebaa Farms.

A successful resolution to the conflict must also address the terrible social and economic impacts on civilians of the Israeli occupation. Repeated military action against civilian homes and the destruction of infrastructure such as roads and water and electricity supplies – together with racially discriminatory laws which grant Israeli citizens rights to water, security, reasonable social standards and free movement but deny all these right to Palestinians - have pushed Palestinians into the extreme poverty more usual in Sub-Saharan African nations. This terrible reality has been exacerbated by the EU’s decision to withhold financial assistance in protest at the democratic election which saw Hamas take control of the Palestinian Authority in January.

Lasting peace will also depend on all sides reaching an agreement on prisoner exchanges, refugee returns – and, crucially, delivering justice by investigating all alleged breaches of international human rights law and the Geneva Conventions, prosecuting those responsible where possible.

The current Security Council Resolution 1701 doesn’t address any of these important issues and therefore will, I fear, fail to bring about a lasting peace either between Hezbollah and Israel or in the wider region.

These matters need to be addressed through a regional conference, with elected representatives, including Hamas, from across the wider Middle East . Co-operating to agree a joint regional settlement would help tackle the underlying causes of the terrible carnage unleashed recently in Lebanon and Israel , and which has been an inescapable reality for as long as so many people living in the region can remember.

Neither the UK nor the US are in a position to facilitate such an agreement, and I am calling upon the EU to propose that a regional wide settlement be a UN priority. I have written to the European Commission and intend to call for a debate when the European Parliament reconvenes after the summer recess.

I am also calling for the EU to immediately restore aid payments to Palestine , and to suspend the EU-Association agreement – which grants Israel special access to EU markets – until Israel ’s government agrees to fully respect international human rights law, the Geneva Conventions, and all relevant Security Council resolutions.

Any international force must be mandated only with maintaining peace – not attempting to deliver it, either by trying to disarm Hezbollah or in any other way – once the diplomatic initiatives outlined above are being implemented.