Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure protection of Palestinian communities in the West Bank.

We urge Israel to halt settlement expansion immediately. We have already moved to ban those responsible for violence in the West Bank from the UK. We have taken further steps to hold those to account who undermine the steps to peace in the West Bank. Earlier this month the Foreign Secretary announced new sanctions designations against four extremist Israeli settlers who have violently attacked Palestinians in the West Bank.

We must also work with our allies to provide serious, practical and enduring support needed to bolster the Palestinian Authority.

We already provide technical and practical support and are ready to do more. The Palestinian Authority also must take much needed steps on reform, including setting out a pathway to democratic progress.