{"id":37699,"date":"2014-01-10T17:28:00","date_gmt":"2014-01-10T17:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=679e276a452d9477ccae6771a7ecca32"},"modified":"2014-01-10T17:28:00","modified_gmt":"2014-01-10T17:28:00","slug":"press-release-fco-minister-responds-to-developments-in-israel-and-the-opts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=37699","title":{"rendered":"Press release: FCO Minister responds to developments in Israel and the OPTs"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>Commenting on recent developments in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Minister for the Middle East, Hugh Robertson, said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Britain strongly supports the Secretary Kerry-led negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians to achieve a historic peace settlement. I warmly welcome the difficult decision by Prime Minister Netanyahu\u2019s Government to release 26 Palestinian prisoners on 1 January as part of the peace process. In the UK we know from our own experience how difficult such steps can be, but firmly believe they are important to achieving security and a lasting peace.<\/p>\n<p>I am however deeply concerned by Israel\u2019s decision to announce further settlement building in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. As we have repeatedly made clear, the UK condemns settlement activity, which is illegal under international law, undermines trust and threatens the viability of the two-state solution. We urge Israel not to proceed with the proposed settlement building.<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\">Important progress has been made in recent months, and we encourage both sides to continue to show the courage and bold leadership needed to take the difficult steps towards peace. The UK stands ready to help.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3 id=\"further-information\">Further information<\/h3>\n<p>Follow Foreign Office Minister Hugh Robertson on twitter <a rel=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/HughRobertsonMP\">@HughRobertsonMP<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>Follow the Foreign Office on twitter <a rel=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/foreignoffice\">@foreignoffice<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow the Foreign Office on <a rel=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/foreignoffice?ref=hl\">facebook<\/a> and <a rel=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/plus.google.com\/b\/105922144104190309938\/+foreignoffice\/posts\">Google+<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"contact\" id=\"contact_193\">\n<div class=\"content\">\n<h3>Media enquiries<\/h3>\n<div class=\"vcard contact-inner\">\n<div class=\"email-url-number\">\n<p class=\"email\">\n              <span class=\"type\">Email<\/span><br \/>\n              <a class=\"email\" href=\"mailto:newsdesk@fco.gov.uk\">newsdesk@fco.gov.uk<\/a>\n            <\/p>\n<p class=\"tel\">\n              <span class=\"type\">Telephone<\/span><br \/>\n              020 7008 3100\n            <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>FCO Minister Hugh Robertson calls for steps to advance the peace process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37699"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37699\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}