Ruth Coppinger
Question:313. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will report on any discussions held with European Union counterparts regarding the situation in occupied Palestine. [37064/15]
View answerThursday, 22 October 2015
Questions (313)
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The Middle East Peace Process (MEPP) features regularly on the agenda of the Foreign Affairs Council. It was discussed in detail at the Council’s meeting on 20 July. It was also discussed by Ministers at their informal, or Gymnich, meeting last month in Luxembourg.
The Council Conclusions adopted and published at the July Council meeting were wide ranging. They reiterated the EU’s commitment to the two-state solution, stressing the urgency of ending the conflict; called for donors to increase funding for Gaza given the dire situation there and called for an end to the closure of Gaza and urged all Palestinian factions to work for intra-Palestinian reconciliation to strengthen the two-state solution.
The Conclusions reaffirmed the EU’s support for the development of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the empowering of Palestinian institutions; recalled the illegality of settlements and the EU’s opposition to settlements, demolitions and confiscations, evictions, forced transfers, settlement outposts, settler violence and restrictions on access and movement and renewed the EU’s commitment that all EU-Israeli agreements must explicitly indicate their inapplicability to the occupied Palestinian territories.
The Foreign Affairs Council has not yet discussed in detail the current upsurge in violence, primarily in and around Jerusalem, which is a matter of deep concern. I expect that this issue, and the underlying causes, will be discussed at the next meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council on 16 November.
For my part, I have argued consistently at EU level that, despite the other crises in the region that demand attention, we cannot leave the MEPP to one side: the situation is highly unstable and continuing to deteriorate on the ground, such that the very feasibility of the two state solution we have so long worked for is now in doubt.
I have urged the EU to re-examine its policies on the MEPP and to seek to make them more effective.