Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 15 October 2014, to Question 209580, whether he and his EU counterparts gave specific consideration to settlement construction in Givat Hamatos, E1 and Har Homa, and to the relocation of 12,500 Bedouin from E1, and to the implications of those developments for future relations between the EU and Israel.

Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymead and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) made clear in his statement of 3 October, the UK deplores Israel’s decision to advance plans for settlement units in Givat Hamatos. Along with a number of EU counterparts, and the European External Action Service, he urged the Israeli authorities to reverse this decision. Discussions are continuing in Brussels on how the EU can best discourage settlement expansion including in Givat Hamatos, E1 and Har Homa, and plans to relocate Bedouin from E1. The UK is working closely with other Member States to that end.