Mark Williams – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Williams on 2014-06-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the UK position is on the future status of Jerusalem.

Hugh Robertson

The Government considers that Jerusalem has the status of a corpus separatum as defined by the 1947 UN Partition Plan. Although we accept de facto Israeli control of West Jerusalem we do not recognise Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem, which we consider to be occupied territory. Jerusalem holds particular significance for many groups around the globe, especially the three Abrahamic faiths of Islam, Judaism and Christianity.

We believe that a solution to Jerusalem must be sought as part of a negotiated settlement between the Israelis and the Palestinians, and the solution must allow for all those people for whom Jerusalem means so much to access and enjoy it.