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

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Turnberg on 2015-10-27.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what approaches they have made to the President of the Palestinian Authority about his comments that Israel intends to take over the Temple Mount and the mosque situated there.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), emphasised the importance of calming the current tensions when he spoke to President Abbas on 9 October. On 26 October, our Consul General in Jerusalem raised our concerns with Prime Minister and Minister for Interior, Rami Hamdallah.

Since the start of the current violence we have spoken regularly to both the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli Government on the need to de-escalate tensions, avoid any words or actions that could incite further violence, and maintain the status quo at the holy site of Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount.