Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories Debate
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Tracy Gilbert
Main Page: Tracy Gilbert (Labour - Edinburgh North and Leith)Department Debates - View all Tracy Gilbert's debates with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories
Tracy Gilbert Excerpts(1 week, 2 days ago)
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Tracy Gilbert (Edinburgh North and Leith) (Lab)
It is my pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dame Siobhain. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Alloa and Grangemouth (Brian Leishman) for securing this important debate.
While our closest allies rubbish the international courts, we must not go down that path and I welcome the Government’s statements to that effect. As my time is brief, I will focus on one particular argument. Occupations are never planned to be extraordinarily long. Israeli occupation is now 57 years long, as reflected in Judge Yusuf’s separate opinion. I fear that, if the occupation continues, it will become increasingly difficult to apply international law to the situation on the ground. I am therefore keen to hear from the Minister about what approach the Government are taking to ensure that the current fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas can become a long-lasting peace with a two-state solution. That is the only way that this extraordinarily long occupation will be brought to an end in the interests of Israeli and Palestinian people.