Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to his Israeli counterpart on ending the practice of administrative detention in that country.

Our Embassy in Tel Aviv regularly raises concerns about detention, including Israel's extensive use of administrative detention. These concerns were raised with the Israeli authorities most recently on 27 June. Administrative detention should, according to international law, be used only when security makes it absolutely necessary rather than as routine practice, and as a preventative rather than a punitive measure. We will continue to call on the Israeli authorities to comply with their obligations under international law, and either charge or release detainees.