Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 18 April 2018 to Question 135640, on Palestinians: terrorism, whether the British Consul-General in Jerusalem has met with senior Palestinian representatives to discuss the decision by the Palestinian Authority to pay directly the salaries of convicted terrorists; and if she will make a statement.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has not yet confirmed or announced that it will provide payments to Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails directly. The British Consul General in Jerusalem met with Saeb Erekat, Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), on April 27^th and directly raised the issue. The Secretary of State also raised her concerns about payments to prisoners when she last met with the Palestinian Foreign Minister and I will be raising them with the Finance Minister later this month, calling for the payments to be transparent, needs based and affordable.