Occupied Territories: Official Publications
(asked on 16th June 2025) - View Source
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when his Department started using the term Occupied Palestinian Territories in official documentation.
Answered by
Hamish Falconer
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK government has used the term "Occupied Palestinian Territories" regularly since 2007.
It has been the position of the UK Government since 1967 that the Occupied Palestinian Territories (West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza) are not lawfully part of the State of Israel. In line with relevant UN Security Council Resolutions, we regard East Jerusalem as part of the Occupied Palestinian Territories. We consider that the level of control that Israel retains over these territories amounts to occupation under international law and hence that Israel's presence is governed by the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Conventions of 1949, to which Israel is a state party.