Asked by: Lord Turnberg (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the Palestinian Authority about any rewards they make to families of Palestinians involved in acts of terror against Israeli civilians.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Whilst prisoners and their families have a right to support in line with their social needs as they would in the UK, we use our strong partnership with the Palestinian Authority (PA) to lobby them to reform the prisoner payments system to become more needs-based, transparent and affordable. Minister of State for the Middle East, Alistair Burt, has raised these concerns with the Palestinian Foreign Minister, and British Government officials regularly do likewise. No UK aid is used for prisoner payments to Palestinian prisoners or their families.
Asked by: Lord Turnberg (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the government of Egypt about the closure of the Rafah crossing from Gaza.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Minister for the Middle East and North Africa discussed the situation in Gaza with the Egyptian Foreign Minister in October, and officials in Cairo regularly raise the issue of Rafah crossing with the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, most recently on 10 January. The Minister also raised the issue of Palestinian Authority staff being withdrawn from the Rafah crossing with the Palestinian Head of Mission to London on 23 January. We continue to urge Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Egypt to work together to ensure a durable solution for Gaza.
Asked by: Lord Turnberg (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the death of an American tourist and the wounding of several citizens by a Palestinian in Tel Aviv on 7 March, whether they will press the leadership of the Palestinian Authority to condemn that, and other similar incidents, and to reduce incitement to violence.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
We regularly urge the Palestinian leadership to do more to condemn violence. Most recently our Consul General in Jerusalem had a meeting on 9 March with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Hamdallah where we raised our concerns on incitement.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East (Mr Ellwood), issued a press statement on 9 March following the recent increase in violence, condemning the attacks on civilians in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
We regularly raise incitement with the Palestinian Authority, and have urged key figures to encourage calm and condemn violence. We continue to support the reinstatement of the Tripartite Committee on Incitement as the appropriate channel to deal with allegations of incitement from either side.
Asked by: Lord Turnberg (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the recent statements by Ismael Haniyeh, a Hamas leader, that they are rebuilding tunnels from Gaza with the intention of attacking Israel.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
We remain deeply concerned by Hamas' attempts to rearm and its efforts to rebuild infrastructure, including the tunnel network in Gaza. We are clear that Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza must permanently end rocket fire and other attacks against Israel. Any Hamas rearmament undermines efforts to improve the situation in Gaza and harms prospects for peace and stability in the Middle East.
Asked by: Lord Turnberg (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of Palestine about recent pronouncements by Mr Abbas praising the actions of Palestinians who have killed Israeli civilians.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
On 17 December, our Deputy Consul General in Jerusalem raised comments attributed to President Abbas, characterising events since last October as a “justified popular uprising”, with the President's Diplomatic Adviser, Majdi Khaldi. Mr Khaldi informed us that President Abbas condemned violence against Israelis and Palestinians.
On several occasions in recent months, our Consul General in Jerusalem has expressed our deep concern about comments made by other Palestinian figures.
Asked by: Lord Turnberg (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of Palestine about the re-opening the Red Cross offices closed by recent violence in Gaza.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
We understand that the International Committee of the Red Cross office in Gaza closed on 7 February for security reasons following protests in solidarity with a Palestinian hunger striker in Israeli detention. We have not raised this specific issue with the Palestinian Authority (PA) but we have urged the PA to make progress on resuming control in Gaza.
Asked by: Lord Turnberg (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what efforts they have made to allow endangered refugees in Camp Liberty to come to the UK.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
In 2011 the Government of Iraq signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the UN Assistance Mission to Iraq which allowed the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to make assessments on applications made by the residents for relocation. The UNHCR assessment process is underway, and a number of residents have now been relocated to third countries.
The UK has re-admitted four individuals from Camp Ashraf who hold valid UK travel documents. The Home Office exceptionally agreed to consider whether 52 residents of Camp Liberty previously settled in the UK, but who left many years ago, should be readmitted. Seventeen residents approved for resettlement in the UK by the Home Office are now in the UK. The UNHCR has also referred 35 further residents and a decision from the Home Office is pending.
Asked by: Lord Turnberg (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the situation of Iranian refugees in Camp Liberty.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
We continue to engage with the Government of Iraq on the welfare of the residents of Camp Liberty. Our Embassy in Baghdad regularly raises this issue with the Government of Iraq and we support the UN calls for more to be done to protect residents, but remain of the view that the Iraqi government is responsible for security at the camp.
Officials from our Embassy in Baghdad visited the camp on 28 April to assess living conditions, which the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq have judged to be well in excess of basic humanitarian standards. Trucks containing food, medicine and diesel fuel continue to routinely enter the camp.
Asked by: Lord Turnberg (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what conversations they have had with the government of Iraq about the recent attacks on Camp Liberty.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
We strongly condemn the attack against the civilian residents of Camp Liberty in Iraq on Thursday 29 October. Officials from our Embassy in Baghdad raised the attack with the Iraqi Prime Minister’s Office on Friday 30 October and made clear the importance of an urgent and comprehensive investigation into the incident and that all those responsible are brought to justice.
In all of our engagement with the Government of Iraq on this issue, including at Ministerial level and in our statements, we have emphasised the importance of the Iraqi government doing everything possible to ensure the safety of the residents of Camp Liberty. We support the UN calls for more to be done to protect the residents.
Asked by: Lord Turnberg (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what approaches they have made to the President of the Palestinian Authority about his comments that Israel intends to take over the Temple Mount and the mosque situated there.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), emphasised the importance of calming the current tensions when he spoke to President Abbas on 9 October. On 26 October, our Consul General in Jerusalem raised our concerns with Prime Minister and Minister for Interior, Rami Hamdallah.
Since the start of the current violence we have spoken regularly to both the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli Government on the need to de-escalate tensions, avoid any words or actions that could incite further violence, and maintain the status quo at the holy site of Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount.