Foreign Affairs committee  I would say that I think it's been a positive regional relationship. The Palestinians are concerned that.... This was a negotiation coin, where there wouldn't be normalization until more work was done on the Palestinian issues, so they are worried about it, but ultimately, it's a positive thing.

Foreign Affairs committee  Sure, Mr. Chair, I'm happy to provide in writing a list of the recipients for our first tranche of addressing the emergency field in the Gaza, the $10 million—

Foreign Affairs committee  I would say for the first $10 million, this is an emergency intervention in response to the appeals, and those recipients are known. The other portions are still being worked out.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thanks very much. Indeed, we were very concerned about the problematic educational materials that were sent out. We expect UNRWA to uphold UN values and principles. Minister Gould immediately called the commissioner-general of UNRWA and has subsequently spoken with a large number of her counterparts to discuss this issue.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you very much. That's a very good question. There are those who will say that the two-state solution is a dream that wasn't realized and a number of Palestinians have lost faith in the prospect of it. Certainly what has been happening on the ground with settlements, with evictions and with demolitions, has made it much more difficult to come to ground and to work towards a two-state solution.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thanks very much. Indeed, this is a significant concern for us and for all partners who do work in this area. The answer is that we put in place very significant controls on all of our projects that go into the region—particularly in Gaza but in West Bank as well. We apply what is called an “enhanced due diligence” system to our funding.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thanks very much for the comments and questions. On the UN resolutions, we have been voting pretty much in the same way for a number of years. That is predicated on the view that there are far too many one-sided resolutions that unfairly single out Israel. Each year at the United Nations you will have 19 to 23 resolutions—depending upon the year—all of which make all kinds of commentary on Israeli behaviour, but there's no discussion of other players in those resolutions, for the most part.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thank you very much. Indeed, the Palestinians indicated that the reason for cancellation was that they didn't think it would be possible to have voting take place in East Jerusalem, although I don't think that, at the end of the day, that was ultimately decided. There are also the other factors.

Foreign Affairs committee  I absolutely agree that peacebuilding is fundamental to getting to a different place. What was so alarming about the crisis.... There were many things, but one of them was that you had violence in Jerusalem and you had violence throughout the West Bank, and really the issues of social cohesion and getting to a place where you can even envisage two peoples living together side by side in peace and security were a long way from that.

Foreign Affairs committee  Thanks very much. I very much agree that we can only have this “just and lasting peace”.... This is a nice phrase, but in practice, what does it mean and how do you get there? As was mentioned, this is the latest exacerbation and conflict, but this has been persisting for many years and decades, and it is painful for everyone.

Foreign Affairs committee  As it was just described, I think this is very similar to the sentiment and feelings from our hard-working embassy staff, locally engaged staff and families. With 4,100 rockets being fired towards Israel, there was not a lot of time to race to the bomb shelters. It's very frightening.

Foreign Affairs committee  The situation in Gaza before the 11-day conflict was almost unlivable, as the UN would say. There was a lack of water, medicine and health care. Unemployment has skyrocketed. The economy has nearly collapsed. It is a very difficult environment to live in. It has been exacerbated by COVID, and then by this conflict.

Foreign Affairs committee  I'm certainly very well aware of the issue. I have met with the Goldin family personally. I have made a number of efforts to try to encourage the Palestinian Authority to exercise influence to have the remains returned. I know that, as a part of the post-conflict environment, Israel has really pushed the issue to say that this is wholly unacceptable and it must be addressed.

Foreign Affairs committee  My colleagues deal with Iran and the overall relationship. I can commend them to respond, in due course. I would say that our bilateral interaction with Iran is very limited. As you know, we expressed a whole series of concerns associated with Iran related to the human rights record.

Foreign Affairs committee  I think these normalization agreements are indicative of changing attitudes in the region. We see growing ties between Israel and a number of countries, such as UAE and Morocco. Even with Saudi Arabia, the interactions have increased. I think this is a very positive thing, one that we have welcomed.