Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on that region of recent violence in Israel and the West Bank.

We are deeply concerned by the recent violence in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Since the start of the current violence, Ministers and officials have spoken regularly to both the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority on the urgent need to de-escalate the tensions. We understand, and share, the deep frustration on all sides at the lack of progress on the Middle East Peace Process. The current violence underlines that a just and lasting resolution that ends the occupation and delivers peace for both Israelis and Palestinians is long overdue.