Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the Prime Minister raised with the Prime Minister of Israel during his visit to the UK on 6 February (1) the government of Israel's recent announcement of plans for new settlement building in the West Bank, and (2) the law recently passed by the Knesset to allow the retroactive expropriation of private Palestinian land in the West Bank for settlements, in the light of UK policy that continuing Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank erodes the viability of the two-state solution.

When the Prime Minister, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May), met the Prime Minister of Israel on 6 February they discussed the Middle East Peace Process and the UK's firm commitment to a two-state solution as the best way to bring stability and peace to the region. The Prime Minister reiterated the UK's concerns about settlement activity and our strong opposition to the land regularisation bill which paves the way for significant growth in settlements deep in the West Bank, threatening the viability of the two state solution.