Lord Hylton – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2015-10-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the progress achieved at the meeting of the Middle East Quartet on 10 September.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

On 30 September 2015, the Quartet met in the margins of the UN General Assembly. The Quartet released a statement reaffirming its commitment to the two state solution and noting the urgency of progress towards this objective, in the context of the intensifying threat of terrorism, sectarian extremism and radicalisation in the Middle East. Amongst other things, the Quartet expressed concern at current trends, and stressed the need for significant steps on the ground, consistent with past agreements. The UK, represented by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), attended the expanded second part of the meeting. The Foreign Secretary stressed the need for practical actions which would have impact on the ground and expressed concern at settlements, housing demolitions and population clearances.