I share the concerns of my constituents about the treatment of Palestinian children under the Israeli military court system - Israel has a legal and moral responsibility to ensure that international standards are upheld. Following the publication of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office-funded, independent report into the treatment of child detainees in Israeli military custody, I understand that some progress has been made.
The UK Government has pressed Israel to take action on the findings and recommendations of the report, and has welcomed some steps that the Israeli Government has taken. These include changes to standard operating procedures on methods of restrain and the pilot scheme to use summonses instead of night-time arrests.
However, I agree that much more still needs to be done and I know that the Government has expressed concerns in a number of areas, including the mistreatment of Palestinian detainees during arrest, transfer, interrogation and detention and about Israel's respect of its obligations in this regard as an Occupying Power under applicable international law. The Foreign Office has raised concerns over treatment of Palestinian detainees with the Israeli authorities on many occasions, including the Foreign Minister, Attorney General and National Security Adviser levels.
Ministers will continue to make this issue a focus of our engagement with Israel, and committed to funding a follow-up visit by the delegation responsible for the 2012 report, at the beginning of this year, to report on further progress.