Israel and Palestine

Patricia Ferguson Excerpts

Monday 14th September 2026 Commons Chamber

[Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow West) (Lab)]

I welcome the contribution by the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, my hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff South and Penarth (Stephen Doughty) this evening and that of the Foreign Secretary last week.

Having supported the cause of the Palestinian people since the early 1990s and having a keen interest in Jewish culture and religion, I was particularly eager to visit the countries for myself to better understand the situation. I did so in May this year with Members from across the Chamber, and I am very grateful to Yachad for organising the visit. I declare an interest in that regard.

Like most Members, I have read and thought a lot about the events of 7 October—the attack on the kibbutzim and the music festival, the murder and kidnapping of so many people, and the treatment of those held hostage. Those were dreadful events, each and every one of them, but to visit a kibbutz and to hear how the attack unfolded there—armed paragliders descending on the kibbutz in the early hours of a Saturday morning, and the murder and kidnapping of its members—was frankly shocking. It also took the IDF more than 24 hours to get to those people, and even longer to safely escort them to safety, and that was heartrending.

The actions of Hamas on that date and beyond were monstrous. The woman who showed us around the kibbutz lost her home and her son, a father of three, on that day, but when we asked her what she does now, she told us that she does what she has always done: she goes into schools to talk about peace. Many Israelis we spoke to expressed similar hopes; they have great hope that the elections next month will make a difference and that a public inquiry into the events of 7 October should be held, as the hon. Member for Birmingham Perry Barr (Ayoub Khan) suggested.

Israelis are right to be saddened, angered and outraged by those events, but their Government’s response against the people of Gaza has been disproportionate and is a stain on the conscience of the world. However, the problems did not begin in 2023. Indeed, my late father was stationed in the middle east during the second world war. He loved the region, but was depressed by what he saw then and by what unfolded in subsequent decades.

I am proud that this Government have recognised the state of Palestine, and I am even more proud that we are now committed to banning the sale of goods and services from settlements. I am also proud that we have taken such a strong leadership role internationally to get to this point. The international effort is crucial if there is to be progress.

However, let us be under no illusion. When we talk about settlements, we are not talking about small villages with rudimentary services and a rural lifestyle. Many are large industrial towns with successful industries and excellent public services, most are strategically placed to prevent a Palestinian state from ever being contiguous, and all of them are illegal. E1 is potentially vast, and it is just the latest addition to that policy, which is not new. In Hebron, the second largest city in the west bank, a settlement was created in the middle of the city in 1968, and as a result the city centre is a ghost town.

We see on our televisions and online the extreme actions of the settlers, and I will come back to that, but we should not underestimate for a moment the sheer grind that Palestinians in the west bank experience each and every day as they try to go about their lives—checkpoints, roads that are off limits to Palestinian cars and commercial activity, or just off limits to Palestinians full stop. The village of Khirbet Zanuta in the south Hebron hills was home to some 250 Palestinians who were forced off their land by settlers after a campaign of harassment and intimidation.

[Dr Allison Gardner (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend is giving a very thoughtful, detailed and balanced speech, and I am grateful for that. A report by the West Bank Protection Consortium documents forced nudity, invasive searches, sexual harassment and threats of sexual violence against Palestinian women, men and children. It found that sexual violence against women and girls was a factor in families deciding to leave their homes. Does she agree that, where sexual violence is used to intimidate and forcibly displace Palestinians, we must make it clear to the Israeli Government that those responsible must be held to account?

[Patricia Ferguson]

Indeed, I agree with my hon. Friend. We heard of examples of that when we visited this year, and it is of course deliberate. It consists of incidents such as she describes, but also of people peering in windows and polluting watercourses used usually by the women of a village. That kind of behaviour is just not acceptable.

The villagers of Khirbet Zanuta won a Supreme Court ruling that they could return to their village, and many of them did, but they were forced out again. This time, the settlers bulldozed the village, including its school, which had been built in part with UK taxpayers’ money. At Umm al-Khair, we saw how settler outposts had expanded directly alongside the village and heard about the death of Awdah Hathaleen in July 2025. Awdah was shot dead by Yinon Levi, a settler already sanctioned by the UK Government. Despite video evidence —and I mean really strong video evidence—no charges have ever been brought and no prosecution has taken place.

We visited the American co-ordination centre in Kiryat Gat, and I have to say that was quite an unreal experience. There are military personnel from about 20 countries working on aid delivery, monitoring the ceasefire and planning the reconstruction of Gaza. We discussed with an Israeli army officer the distribution of aid in Gaza, and our concerns about the designation of many items as potentially of dual use and as a consequence banned from Gaza. This included items such as tent poles, therapeutic toys for children and cochlear implants for children. We also met the Norwegian Refugee Council. Its assessment of the volume and effectiveness of humanitarian aid could not have been more at odds with what we heard at Kiryat Gat.

Whatever the facts of the matter are, it is clear that the humanitarian situation is still dire and that life for Palestinians in Gaza is a question of survival rather than living. With little in the way of healthcare and education, it would be helpful if the Minister closing the debate could indicate whether we will expand our support for Palestinian students wishing to study in the UK, and for injured and sick Palestinians struggling to access healthcare. It is a sad fact—actually, it is not sad; it is horrifying—that Gaza has per capita the highest number of child amputees in the world, many of whom have not had access to proper treatment, rehabilitation or appropriate prosthetics. We must do more to help.

The way ahead will not be easy, but the only way forward is for a safe and secure Israel to be able to live with a safe and secure Palestine as its neighbour. Hopefully, that aim will be helped by the election of a new Government in just over a month, and the continuing efforts of the Government and their international partners. I was struck by something my hon. Friend the Member for Wirral West (Matthew Patrick) said in his speech. I was reminded of a comment made at the time of the Good Friday agreement, which is—I will close on this—that you don’t make peace by talking to your friends.

Israel and Palestine

Patricia Ferguson Excerpts

Tuesday 8th September 2026 Commons Chamber

[Ed Miliband]

I totally share what my hon. Friend said about this or a future Israeli Government. We want them to draw back; we want them to change course.

[Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow West) (Lab)]

I welcome the Foreign Secretary’s statement, which will come as a welcome addition to the debate. I was proud when this Government took the historic decision to recognise the state of Palestine. However, the very prospect of a single unified Palestinian state is, as we have heard, under enormous threat from the expansion of illegal settlements in the west bank. Having visited that area with Members from across the House earlier this year, the sheer scale of the E1 settlement makes it clear that Israel is determined that there should be no possibility of a contiguous Palestinian state. Does the Foreign Secretary agree that anyone—and I mean anyone—who believes in a just and lasting peace in the middle east must also oppose illegal settlement expansion and the violence that so often comes with it?

[Ed Miliband]

I absolutely concur with my hon. Friend. She speaks very eloquently about this.

Israel: E1 Zone Expansion

Patricia Ferguson Excerpts

Wednesday 1st July 2026 Commons Chamber

[Mr Falconer]

It is obviously not appropriate for me to set out who should win an election in a fellow democracy. What I can set out is British Government policy and what we would wish to see from Israel. We have been very clear over an incredibly long period of time about our views on a two-state solution, about the conduct of the war in Gaza. It is not for us to set out who should win the Israeli election. It is perfectly reasonable for us to set out what we would wish the policy of the Israeli Government to be in relation to these questions after October.

[Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow West) (Lab)]

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Warwick and Leamington (Matt Western) for securing this question. I, too, attended the visit to Israel and Palestine last month. The scale of the E1 settlement, as has been described, is massive, but just as insidious is the trend, which has been going on for a long time, of Israeli settlements surrounding Palestinian villages across Palestine and cutting those villages off from vital services such as water and other utilities. Also in the ranks of the insidious actions of the Israeli Government is the fact that they demand that taxation from Palestine must go through Israel and then be repaid to the Palestinian Authority. That money accounts for some 70% to 75% of the Palestinian Authority’s revenue. No money has been paid since May 2025, which perhaps explains why they cannot do all the things that the Opposition would like them to do. Is that an area we can put pressure on to ensure that the Palestinian Authority has its own revenue, which it is entitled to, to do its work?

[Mr Falconer]

I thank my hon. Friend for the question, and I know that she has been a doughty supporter of some of the Gaza students who were relocated to her constituency. She is right to raise the financial pressure that the Palestinian Authority—and the whole of the economy of Palestine—are under as a result of this dispute about correspondent banking. We have raised this repeatedly and will continue to do so. The economic viability of Palestine is vital.

Middle East

Patricia Ferguson Excerpts

Thursday 21st May 2026 Commons Chamber

[Mr Falconer]

The UK is a committed member of both the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and the Rome statute, and we encourage all states to fully abide by their commitments under both, including in relation to the International Criminal Court.

[Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow West) (Lab)]

I thank the Minister for his statement. According to the United Nations, the number of violent incidents in the west bank caused by illegal settlers increased to a record level last August. It is no coincidence that that is the time of maximum harvests in the area. Will the Government continue to enact sanctions against violent settler movements, and will they also start to ban the import of settlement goods? Will the Minister sanction the politicians who are inciting the violence, and who are responsible for the insidious—disgraceful, in fact—legislation enacted against Palestinians? That includes the introduction of the death penalty, and the petty and short-sighted removal of recognition of academic degrees gained in Palestine, so that people with those degrees cannot work as teachers in Israel, or anywhere else where Israel holds sway.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)]

Order. I remind Members that questions need to be much shorter if we are going to get business done today.

Middle East

Patricia Ferguson Excerpts

Tuesday 17th March 2026 Commons Chamber

[Yvette Cooper]

When there are important decisions to be made about UK forces and operations they might be a part of, it is immensely important to look at whether there is a purpose—a clear structure—to the operations and a lawful basis for them, and whether they are in the UK’s interest. We will continue to work with our Gulf partners, European partners and allies and partners across the world on how we maintain the pressure together for a swift resolution that not only restores security to the region, but ensures that we have economic prosperity as well as national security protected.

[Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow West) (Lab)]

I thank the Foreign Secretary for her statement. It was reassuring to hear her say that we will not be outsourcing our foreign policy—something I think we should all agree with. Is she confident that the United States properly understands that its actions in the middle east have not only made peace in Palestine much more difficult to achieve, but have provided cover to Israel for its ongoing offensive in Palestine and its aggression against Lebanon?

[Yvette Cooper]

Because the regional stability and security issues around the middle east have so many wider ramifications, some of the Gulf countries, for example, that I have spoken to are not only immensely seized by the issues around the Iranian threat and the direct threat to their airspace and communities, but are raising with me issues around Palestine, Gaza and Lebanon. This ought to be a moment for intense international diplomacy in support of regional security and not for allowing wider escalation and regional threat that would pose long-term instability for the region.

Sudan

Patricia Ferguson Excerpts

Thursday 5th February 2026 Commons Chamber

[Yvette Cooper]

The simple answer that I can give to the hon. Gentleman is: yes, I will. We will continue to look at the issue of sanctions and what more we can do, and we will certainly continue to engage not just with the House, but with anybody and everybody who has evidence that can support that process.

[Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow West) (Lab)]

I thank the Foreign Secretary for such a strong statement this afternoon. She has rightly highlighted the disgraceful use of rape as a weapon of war in this conflict, but it happens in many other conflicts around the world, from Ukraine to Myanmar. May I urge her to use her office to lead international efforts to bring the perpetrators of this disgraceful violence against women and girls to justice, wherever that violence may be happening and no matter how long the process takes?

[Yvette Cooper]

I completely agree with my hon. Friend. It was 25 years ago when the UK led the drawing-up of the resolution on women, peace and security at the United Nations. Since then, successive Governments have highlighted the issue of violence against women and girls. I want to ensure that that is at the heart of our foreign policy not just in Sudan, but more widely. It was devastating to hear from one aid worker who told me that—although she had worked on conflicts for 20 years and had experience of dealing with sexual violence in conflict for very many years—this instance was by far the worst. She talked to all the women arriving at the camp, and she said it felt like almost every one of them had a terrible story of sexual violence to tell.

Armed Conflict: Children

Patricia Ferguson Excerpts

Wednesday 4th February 2026 Westminster Hall

[Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow West) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stringer. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Hyndburn (Sarah Smith) for securing the debate. I know how interested she is in these issues, and how much she cares about them, so it is good that we are having this debate today.

I make no apologies for enumerating some figures that I think we would all do well to remember. As we have heard, for the second year running, the Occupied Palestinian Territory was the most dangerous place in the world to be a child. In 2024, Israeli armed forces were responsible for 7,188 grave violations against Palestinian children. That means that Israeli forces were responsible for more than one in five of the total number of verified grave violations committed globally in 2024. The verified number of Palestinian children killed and maimed by Israeli forces in 2024 was 3,867. Most instances were caused by the use of explosive weapons in populated areas. As of July 2025, over 40,500 children in Gaza were estimated to have been injured. The occupied Palestinian territory is now home, shamefully, to the largest cohort of child amputees in modern history.

As of July 2025, at least 21,000 children were living with permanent disabilities, which included traumatic brain injuries, burns, complex fractures and hearing loss. The Save the Children report, “Children and Blast Injuries”, explains that the reason for that is because children are uniquely vulnerable to blast injuries, as they are more likely to die as a result of attacks, or to suffer more severe physical harm, in comparison with adults. The situation is compounded by the rise of new weapons technologies such as cluster munitions, and the increase of conflict being conducted in cities, with bombs and drones often striking—in fact, targeting—schools, hospitals and homes. The report makes a number of calls on the Government, one being to publish what would be the first-ever cross-departmental children in conflict strategy. I hope the Minister will address that in his winding-up speech.

I was very pleased that the hon. Member for Maidstone and Malling (Helen Grant) mentioned education in conflict zones. It is an issue that the former Prime Minister Gordon Brown raised a number of years ago. He said that those living in conflict zones have the right to expect medical care, and that children in conflict zones should have the right to expect an education, in spite of what is going on around them, no matter how difficult that might be.

I am sure that we all have a view about the board of peace that has been created to look after Palestine and Gaza. I have many concerns about it, but I want to talk about one today: the fact that there is only one woman on the board of peace. I do not for one moment suggest that men do not care about children, but I think that women have a particular perspective. They are often the people who are now left to look after children with no support, often having lost their breadwinner. The Government could use any influence they have to advocate—

[Graham Stringer (in the Chair)]

Order.

Iran

Patricia Ferguson Excerpts

Tuesday 13th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Yvette Cooper]

The action that we saw with the vessel that was interdicted by the US was an example of enforcement of sanctions that was supported by the UK, and as we saw, that vessel had links not just to Iran but to Russia. The hon. Member is right to say that we need to call on all countries around the world to respect the UN sanctions process and to realise that this is not a time to be supporting this Iranian regime.

[Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow West) (Lab)]

I thank my right hon. Friend for her strong words. Like many hon. Members, I have been contacted by constituents who are very concerned about not being able to contact friends and family who are still in Iran. I join my right hon. Friend in applauding and congratulating the female activists in Iran, who have been relentlessly targeted by this oppressive regime, on fighting very bravely for their freedom this week. When the time comes—I sincerely hope it comes very quickly—will she ensure that their voices and their actions can be part of building a new democracy in Iran?

[Yvette Cooper]

It is the 25th anniversary of the women, peace and security resolution at the United Nations. At the heart of that resolution is not just that we should stand up for women victims of conflict, repression and persecution, but that women’s voices need to be heard as part of any positive peace and reconciliation process.

Middle East and North Africa

Patricia Ferguson Excerpts

Monday 5th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow West) (Lab)]

I thank my hon. Friend for his statement. I entirely agree with him that, at a time when the humanitarian crisis in Gaza remains so desperately urgent, the decision by the Israeli Government to withdraw accreditation from 37 extremely credible aid agencies, such as Caritas Internationalis, ActionAid and the International Rescue Committee, is an act of cruelty. Will the Minister therefore join me in condemning this decision, and urge Israel in the strongest possible terms to rescind it immediately, before more deaths occur in Gaza and the west bank because of a lack of humanitarian aid? Will he also urge Israel to open the Rafah crossing as a matter of extreme urgency?

[Mr Falconer]

I thank my hon. Friend for the question. We have engaged extensively with the Israeli Government, both on the importance of overturning the non-governmental organisation registration provisions, and in order to speak against the deregistration process that she described. We have also called repeatedly for the opening of the Rafah crossing and other vital crossings.

Venezuela

Patricia Ferguson Excerpts

Monday 5th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Yvette Cooper]

Let me be clear: the UK, Denmark and the US are all members of NATO. That is why it is so important that we continue to ensure the sovereignty of Greenland and of Denmark, and why we have made our views on that particularly clear to the US.

[Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow West) (Lab)]

I welcome the Foreign Secretary’s statement. I agree with her that Maduro was a corrupt dictator, who frankly cared nothing for the lives of his own people. I welcome her comments about the importance of upholding international law, so does she agree that if we believe in a world order with clear rules about sovereignty, we cannot pick and choose when those rules do and do not apply? Otherwise, what is to stop others with further bad intentions from taking advantage of that situation and following suit?

[Yvette Cooper]

We continue to support international law, to promote it, both publicly and privately, with our allies, and to pursue and sustain the alliances that are important as underpinning parts of the rules-based order, including our NATO alliance and our transatlantic alliance. We maintain those long-standing partnerships as part of upholding international law.