{"id":110691,"date":"2017-08-25T23:38:30","date_gmt":"2017-08-25T23:38:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?post_type=document&p=110691"},"modified":"2018-07-19T12:13:03","modified_gmt":"2018-07-19T16:13:03","slug":"minister-for-the-middle-east-visits-the-opts-and-israel-uk-fco-press-release","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/minister-for-the-middle-east-visits-the-opts-and-israel-uk-fco-press-release\/","title":{"rendered":"Minister for the Middle East Visits the OPTs and Israel – UK FCO Press Release"},"content":{"rendered":"

Press release<\/strong><\/p>\n

Minister for the Middle East Alistair Burt completes 3-day visit (21 to 23 August) to the Occupied Palestinian Territories and\u00a0Israel.<\/strong><\/p>\n

On his first visit to the region since being re-appointed as an Foreign & Commonwealth Office Minister, Mr Burt laid a wreath at a Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery in Gaza and heard from Gazans about current humanitarian challenges, before visiting Susiya village in Area C of the West Bank and Hebron to understand recent developments on the ground. While in Ramallah Mr Burt met with a number of representatives from the Palestinian Authority including Foreign Minister Malki and reaffirmed the UK\u2019s commitment to the working with the Palestinian leadership to achieve a two-state solution.<\/p>\n

Summary of Minister Burt\u2019s visit to the West Bank and Gaza<\/strong><\/p>\n

Speaking after his visit to the Occupied Palestinian Territories Minister Burt said:<\/p>\n

I was delighted to return to the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs) following my re-appointment to the Foreign Office as Minister of State for the Middle East.<\/p>\n

I came to see and hear what has changed since my last official visit in 2013 and to reaffirm the UK\u2019s strong support for a two-state solution to secure peace and prosperity for both Palestinians and Israelis.
\nI am grateful for the hospitality and warmth shown to me across the\u00a0OPTs, in Gaza, Susiya, Hebron, Jerusalem and Ramallah, and for very constructive meetings with Foreign Minister Malki, Finance Minister Bishara, Education Minister Saidam and\u00a0PLO\u00a0Chief Negotiator Erekat.<\/p>\n

The UK will continue to support efforts to improve conditions on the ground for ordinary people and to enable negotiations to resume. I look forward to working with the parties and the wider international community, including the UN and the US, to make progress in the months ahead.
\nMinister Burt then travelled to Jerusalem and met a number of government officials and political figures to discuss wide-ranging issues affecting the UK\u2019s relations with Israel. He emphasised the UK\u2019s strong relationship with Israel and its commitment to the Middle East Peace Process.<\/p>\n

He also attended the launch ceremony of El Al Airlines\u2019 first Boeing 787 Dreamliner plane at Ben Gurion Airport. El Al\u2019s new fleet of Dreamliners is equipped with British-made Rolls Royce engines, a result of the biggest-ever trade deal between the 2 countries, signed in 2016. Mr Burt went on to meet young tech developers and see first-hand how a London-based initiative, the free coding school Founders & Coders, is expanding to Israel through a successful branch in the city of Nazareth.<\/p>\n

Speaking in Tel Aviv Minister Burt said:<\/p>\n

The UK is a great friend of Israel and during this visit I have reaffirmed the UK\u2019s commitment to peace and stability in the Middle East. We will continue to work with and support those in Israel and beyond who want to achieve a viable solution.<\/p>\n

We have a longstanding relationship with Israel and I have witnessed first-hand the strength of this partnership in many areas from trade and investment to technology and innovation. This relationship will continue to grow and benefit both of our nations.<\/p>\n

Further information<\/p>\n

Follow Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt\u00a0@AlistairBurtUK
\nFollow the Foreign Office on Twitter\u00a0@foreignoffice\u00a0and\u00a0Facebook
\nFollow the Foreign Office on\u00a0Instagram,\u00a0YouTube\u00a0and\u00a0LinkedIn<\/p>\n

Media enquiries<\/strong>
\nFor journalists
\nEmail
\nnewsdesk@fco.gov.uk
\nNewsdesk
\n020 7008 3100<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Press release Minister for the Middle East Alistair Burt completes 3-day visit (21 to 23 August) to the Occupied Palestinian Territories and\u00a0Israel. On his first visit to the region since being re-appointed as an Foreign & Commonwealth Office Minister, Mr Burt laid a wreath at a Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery in Gaza and heard […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":172,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[2321],"document-category":[1329],"document-source":[4798],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[1937,2005,2013,2365,1961,2349,1805,1797,2741],"entity":[1985],"document-language":[6542],"class_list":["post-110691","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","country-united-kingdom","document-category-press-release","document-source-state","document-subject-economic-issues","document-subject-gaza-strip","document-subject-hebron","document-subject-international-presence","document-subject-jerusalem","document-subject-living-conditions","document-subject-occupation","document-subject-peace-process","document-subject-statehood-related","entity-state","document-language-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/110691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/110691\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=110691"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=110691"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=110691"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=110691"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=110691"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=110691"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=110691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}