Oral Answers to Questions

Andy McDonald Excerpts

Tuesday 14th March 2023 Commons Chamber

[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.

[Carol Monaghan (Glasgow North West) (SNP)]

24. What recent assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the security and human rights situation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

--- Later in debate ---

[Andy McDonald]

In the west bank town of Huwara, over 400 settlers, backed by Israeli soldiers, torched Palestinian homes, businesses and vehicles, and killed 37-year-old Sameh Aqtash, in what senior Israel Defense Forces commanders have called a pogrom. Israel’s Finance Minister Smotrich, who describes himself as a fascist homophobe, openly said Huwara should be wiped out. Such extremism is given licence by a lack of international accountability, so will the Foreign Secretary, if he agrees with the rule of international law, commit to banning all goods sourced from Israeli settlements illegally built on occupied Palestinian land?

[James Cleverly]

As I have said in answer to other questions, we have made it clear that the language used with regard to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories needs to be de-escalatory. It needs to be carefully thought through. Inflammatory language, as we have seen, is unacceptable. The behaviour of those settlers is unacceptable. That has been recognised by the Israeli authorities and we want to make sure that those people are held to account for the actions they have taken. We will always seek to reinforce the viability of a future Palestinian state as part of a sustainable two-state solution. The decision with regard to settlement goods is long standing and we do not speculate about any changes to those positions.