Occupied Territories

(asked on 1st September 2014) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the UK plans to take in response to Israel's announcement that it will appropriate nearly 1,000 acres of Palestinian land in the Etzion settlement.


Answered by
Tobias Ellwood Portrait
Tobias Ellwood
This question was answered on 4th September 2014

The Government has made it clear that it deplores the Israeli government's expropriation of 988 acres of land around the settlement of Etzion near Bethlehem. It is a particularly ill-judged decision at a time when the priority should be to build on the ceasefire in Gaza. We believe it will do serious damage to Israel's standing in the international community.

The Government's position on settlements is clear: they are illegal under international law, present an obstacle to peace and take us further away from a two state solution at a time when negotiations to achieve this objective urgently need to be resumed.

We have strongly urged the government of Israel to reverse this decision.

Reticulating Splines