IDC to spotlight West Bank and East Jerusalem
The International Development Committee will look into the situation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in a one-off evidence session next week.
Witnesses on the first panel will update the Committee on recent developments across the West Bank and be quizzed on areas ranging from settler violence to prospects for a viable Palestinian state.
With settler violence against Palestinian civilians on the rise, MPs will explore the extent to which it continues across the West Bank.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced last year that Israel would approve the “E1” settlement plan for around 3,000 homes in the occupied West Bank.
After the UK Government called the plan a “breach of international law” and said it “would divide a Palestinian state in two,” MPs will ask what the E-1 settlement would mean for the prospects for a two-state solution.
Meeting details
Witnesses are also likely to be pressed on how the UK Government should best respond to the situation in the West Bank.
The second panel’s witness will speak about the work of UNRWA in the region. It comes amid concern over the Israeli Government’s restrictions on the body that runs a range of critical services for Palestinians across the Occupied Palestinian Territory.