Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories Debate
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Dave Doogan
Main Page: Dave Doogan (Scottish National Party - Angus and Perthshire Glens)Department Debates - View all Dave Doogan's debates with the Department for International Development
Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories
Dave Doogan Excerpts(1 day, 14 hours ago)
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Anneliese Dodds
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for her important question. The UK has sought to invest in the ceasefire. That was the reason why, just last week, we announced additional humanitarian support and support in relation to much-needed services in Gaza, so that we could ensure that that surge in aid, which is so necessary, is not just there now, but sustained. That is important, so that we can progress from phase 1 of the ceasefire to phase 2, then phase 3, and ultimately towards a two-state solution.
Dave Doogan (Angus and Perthshire Glens) (SNP)
No amount of rowing back by the US State Department can change the fact that what the United States President intimated earlier this week amounts to ethnic cleansing. Are the UK Government of the same view that, if prosecuted, his plan would amount to ethnic cleansing? If not, what do the UK Government understand ethnic cleansing to be? I have heard an awful lot of warm words from the Government and ambition about what we believe in, what we stand for and what we have delivered around the immediate humanitarian crisis, but let us not forget that the horrors that have happened over the past 18 months are due to the vacuum created by international inaction over the plight of the Palestinians for the last 50 years. What will this Government do to change that drastic situation?
Anneliese Dodds
A few moments ago, I listed the decisions that the UK Government have taken that were different from those of the previous Government. We have been determined to ensure that we are very clear about the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice. We have also removed that ban on UNWRA funding, and supported moves at the UN, through the Security Council, that have been specifically focused on trying to push forward the two-state solution that is so important. I refer the hon. Gentleman to my previous remarks about the Prime Minister himself underlining the importance of that right to return.