Oral Answers to Questions

Andrew Gwynne Excerpts

Tuesday 14th March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Helen Hayes (Dulwich and West Norwood) (Lab)]

11. What assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of recent violence in Israel and Palestine.

[Andrew Gwynne (Denton and Reddish) (Lab)]

14. Whether his Department is taking steps to support the International Fund for Israeli-Palestinian Peace.

[Andy McDonald (Middlesbrough) (Lab)]

15. What assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of recent violence in Israel and Palestine.

--- Later in debate ---

[James Cleverly]

We raise issues of settlement expansion with the Government of Israel, and I have raised with my Israeli counterpart the need for a careful use of language. I have raised with both my Palestinian and Israeli counterparts the need for all of us to try to find ways of de-escalating the tensions. At this stage, that must rightly be the priority for us all, while we continue to work with the Israeli Government on ensuring that we keep a sustainable two-state solution alive.

[Andrew Gwynne]

Five years ago, the British Government became the first in the world to endorse a concept of an international fund for Israeli and Palestinian peace. Since then, warm words have followed, but very little action. Given the desperate need for that fund right now, with the deterioration of the situation in Israel and Palestine, will the UK Government commit again to leading on that fund? Will the Foreign Secretary use the opportunity of the G7 summit in May to get other international partners lined up as well?

[James Cleverly]

People-to-people links between Israelis and Palestinians are incredibly important, and we fund projects to build co-operation, whether at Government-to-Government level, or people to people. We remain in close contact with our US counterparts about the international fund for peace. We want to ensure that it is the most effective use of funding allocated towards people-to-people links, and we will always look favourably at projects to build greater peace and co-operation. We want to ensure that anything we subscribe to, or any funding we commit, is allocated to the most effective way of bringing about that reconciliation.