Richard Burden – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Burden on 2016-07-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effect on the UK’s policy on the Middle East of recent demolitions by Israel of Palestinian homes and other structures in the West Bank.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The UK position on demolitions is clear: demolitions cause unnecessary suffering to ordinary Palestinians; are harmful to the peace process; and are, in all but the most exceptional of cases, contrary to international humanitarian law. Officials from our Embassy in Tel Aviv have raised our opposition to demolitions with the Israeli authorities repeatedly, most recently on 12 July, and urged them to provide a legal route for Palestinian construction. I also made our position clear at Oral Questions in the House on 12 July.