RE: Gaza Blockade
Thank you very much for your recent correspondence regarding the blockade by Israel against Gaza. I do appreciate your concerns here and am more than willing to represent them to my colleagues in Government.
As such, I have now written to William Hague on your behalf, highlighting your concerns and asking him to address them. Please find attached a copy of my email for your information.
I shall of course come back to you as soon as I have received a response. In the meantime, please do not hesitate to get in touch again if you would like to discuss this matter further or if you think there is anything further I can do as your Parliamentary representative.
Kind regards,
Lynne Featherstone MP
Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Hornsey and Wood Green
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Thank you for contacting me recently regarding Gaza .
I share your concern about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and I know that a number of aid agencies as well as international organisations such as the World Bank and the United Nations. have expressed particular concern about the serious and immediate lack of adequate water supplies and sanitation in Gaza.
This absence of reliable, clean drinking water in Gaza – which the World Bank has concluded has now reached crisis proportions – shows once again how the people of Gaza are suffering and how vital it is that the international community and the Israeli and Palestinian governments work together to address this.
The conflict in Gaza, the more recent political crisis and conflict in Egypt and the Israeli and Egyptian blockade have exacerbated the chronic lack of basic infrastructure in Gaza.
I agree that the Egyptian and Israeli authorities should ease restrictions on all humanitarian aid to Gaza. However the Hamas-led authorities in Gaza bear a considerable responsibility for the current situation . They should stop weapons being smuggled from Gaza into Egypt to extremist groups in Sinai and also stop all rocket attacks into southern Israel and respect Israel’s legitimate security concerns.
Ultimately, the only way that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and, indeed, the wider Occupied Palestinian Territories will be resolved is through a negotiated two-state settlement that sees a viable Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel. I share the widespread frustration that there has been such limited progress on this in recent years and I can assure you that I will continue to press the UK Government to lead world efforts to support the recently restarted peace process.
I can assure you that I will continue to follow this issue closely and I thank you once again for writing to me on this important issue.
Yours sincerely,
Mike Gapes
Labour and Co-operative
Member of Parliament for Ilford South
House of Commons
London SW1A OAA
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