Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the implication for his polices of reported anti-Semitic comments by the President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas in the context of the Middle East Peace Process.

The UK condemns the recent antisemitic remarks made by President Abbas. The UK stands firmly against all attempts to distort the Holocaust. Such statements do not advance efforts towards reconciliation. President Abbas' comments are completely unacceptable and can only serve to exacerbate tensions and undermine efforts to achieve a negotiated two-state solution that is in the interests of both Israelis and Palestinians. Officials at the British Consulate General in Jerusalem have raised this matter with the Palestinian Authority and the Foreign Secretary intends to do the same during his visit to the Occupied Palestinian Territories.