Speeches by Falconer.

“The right hon. Gentleman makes a powerful contribution, and I am sure he could hear the welcome that his comments received from many on the Labour Back Benches. It is a sign when those who have Israel’s long-term interests closest to their hearts make exactly some of those points. I was glad to see that he also saw the…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for the question. I can hear the frustration from colleagues, which I often hear when I indicate that further action may be possible but will not trail it before the Government take it. That is for long—”

“Yesterday, I heard from Palestinian children about the struggles that they face. I have taken steps at every stage to try to ensure that they get help and assistance, and that they can exercise their rights in relation to both their education and the dreadful situation that I described in my statement. I reject my hon.…”

“I am reluctant to pass comment on the deliberations of other legislatures. The hon. Member referred to a number of European Union countries; as I am sure he knows, they have not taken steps on trade, as that is a European Union competence. They are discussing whether they might review their association agreement with I…”

“Well, I have laid out the steps that we have taken so far. Let me turn to the question of my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool Wavertree (Paula Barker). She focused in particular on sexual violence, which is about the most appalling of crimes, but if she will permit me, I want to talk a bit about the wider situation…”

“I would take the point with more force if we were not today seeing our European partners looking to imitate things that we did some considerable time ago. I recognise the depth of feeling, which I share, about the suffering in Palestine and across the region, but it is simply not correct to suggest that the Government …”

“I have sought to set out the action we are taking in relation to Israel and Palestine, both our publicly announced steps and the diplomatic work going on behind the scenes, and I have tried to do the same in relation to Iran. We are in no doubt about the seriousness of the situation, and we will continue to use our ful…”

“There must be accountability. I met members of the Lebanese Red Cross during my recent visit, and was appalled to see further killings of those in their brave number subsequently.”

“I do, to all three questions.”

“The UK is a committed member of both the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and the Rome statute, and we encourage all states to fully abide by their commitments under both, including in relation to the International Criminal Court.”

“I can reassure my hon. Friend that we are selling no bombs and no bullets that could be used against the Palestinians.”

“I absolutely agree with my hon. and gallant Friend that we need to work with our partners across the region to have the best effect.”

“I can offer my hon. Friend that assurance.”

“I heard from girls wanting to be doctors and teachers that they could not get to school in the morning because of restrictions. I heard that their dads could not walk them to school or pick them up at night, and that their education was regularly very significantly disrupted. We need to see progress on all those points…”

“I do not accept the characterisation, but I reassure the right hon. Member that it does not take my being stood at the Dispatch Box for us to be taking action on behalf of British nationals in distress overseas. We have been engaged in the cases of all British nationals on the flotilla since we were first alerted.”

“It is important to be clear that we are providing no bombs and no bullets to the Israeli Government that could be used against Palestinians. That is the decision that this Government took shortly after entry into government, and we continue to stand by it. We have put in place a range of sanctions—we have talked about …”

“I thank my hon. Friend and former colleague in the Foreign Office for her question. We are pressing for full consular rights—we made that point this morning. We understand from the Israelis that all participants on the flotilla will be deported back to their place of origin. We are urgently following up with the Israel…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for the question, and for welcoming me to her constituency recently to discuss this. We will continue to take every step we can in recognition of the seriousness of the situation.”

“I pay tribute to my hon. Friend, who has long been committed to these issues, both during her time in this House and before, and is, I think, the only Member of this House who has been to Gaza since the conflict began. We have taken wave after wave of sanctions action. I want to reassure her that we treat these issues …”

“They were, as they have been in every engagement with the Israeli Government since the signature of the 20-point plan. It is vital that aid gets in at the scale and in the manner envisaged under the 20-point plan.”