To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to his Department's Press Release of 3 October 2014, entitled UK deplores Israel government settlement decision, what response he has received from his counterpart in the Israeli government on his statement deploring the Israeli government's decision to advance plans for the 2,610 settlement units in Givat Hamatos.
Answered on
17 October 2014
Officials from our Embassy have discussed this issue in strong terms with senior Israeli leaders. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu responded to criticism by saying that the 2,610 units approved for construction in Givat Hamatos were not settlement units but houses in a neighbourhood in Jerusalem. He stated that both Arabs and Jews could buy apartments where they so choose. Netanyahu also described the step as merely ‘a statutory formality that does not require publicising.’