Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for the Middle East Peace Process of the alleged practice by the Palestinian Authority of paying salaries to convicted terrorists.

Payments to Palestinian prisoners are made by the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, which has full administrative control for the monthly payments that are provided to prisoners’ families and ex-detainees. We have not made any assessment on the implications of these payments for the Middle East Peace Process.