Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Palestinian Authority counterparts on the closure of the administrative checkpoint at the Erez Crossing.

I raised the importance of keeping the crossing open when I met President Abbas during my visit last year. I also raised this with Israeli interlocutors. The Erez Crossing is run by the Israeli authorities not the PA. We have had reports that the crossing closed briefly on 8 January when Hamas security personnel attempted to approach the crossing, but otherwise it has been open.