Israel and Palestine

Debate between Patricia Ferguson and Ed Miliband

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.