Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what representations he has made to his Israeli counterpart on the detention of Palestinian man, Maher al-Akhras.

Officials from the British Embassy in Tel Aviv raised this case with the Israeli Ministry of Justice on 28 October and with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 3 November. We understand the Israeli High court officially ended Mr Al-Akhras' administrative detention on November 26, and he has now been released. We remain concerned about Israel's extensive use of administrative detention which, according to international law, should be used only when security makes this absolutely necessary rather than as routine practice and as a preventive rather than a punitive measure. We continue to call on the Israeli authorities to comply with their obligations under international law and either charge or release detainees.