Foreign Office Minister: Jerusalem decision is provocative and deeply counter-productive

Minister for the Middle East Alistair Burt has condemned the decision to build additional structures in the Palestinian neighbourhood of Silwan, and housing in Gilo.

Speaking today the Foreign Office Minister said:

“I condemn the decision by the Jerusalem Local Planning and Building Committee to build additional structures in the Palestinian neighbourhood of Silwan, and housing in the settlement of Gilo.  This is another provocative and deeply counter-productive step, the latest in a series by the Israeli authorities.  Continued systematic settlement construction makes it ever harder to achieve the common goal of international efforts: a contiguous Palestinian state living side-by-side with a secure Israel, with Jerusalem as a shared capital.”