Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority on the expansion of Israeli settlements into (a) Susiya, (b) Umm al-Hiran and (c) other areas occupied by Palestinian Bedouins.

The increase in Israeli demolitions and illegal settlement expansion remains an area of serious concerns for the UK Government. On 7 September, during a meeting with Israeli Defence Minister Lieberman in London, I raised our concerns about settlements and demolitions. I also issued a statement on 2 September stating that the UK Government was deeply concerned by reports regarding over 450 new settlement units in the West Bank.

And as I told the House recently, our Embassy in Tel Aviv has repeatedly raised our opposition to demolitions with the Israeli authorities, including our specific concerns about Susiya, and urged them to provide a legal route for Palestinian construction. On 18 August officials from the British Consulate General in Jerusalem, along with an official from our Embassy in Tel Aviv, visited Susiya again to highlight our serious concern and demonstrate our continuing support for the village. Our officials most recently raised Susiya with Defence Minister Lieberman on 24 August.

Umm al-Hiran is in Israel. The UK has been encouraging the Israeli authorities and Bedouin communities to find a satisfactory solution to Umm al-Hiran, respecting the equality of all of Israel’s citizens in a way which avoids forcible relocations.