Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what reports he has received on the practice of Palestinian youths being tried by military courts and sentenced to prison for minor offences.

The Government is concerned over the dual court system that is employed in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, under which all Palestinians, except those living in East Jerusalem, are subject to trial in military courts irrespective of the charges against them while Israeli youths are tried in civil courts. We also have serious concerns about the treatment of Palestinian children under the Israeli military court system, which we raise regularly with the Israeli authorities. More details can be found at: http://www.hrdreport.fco.gov.uk/israel-and-occupied-palestinian-territories/