Written question asked by Baroness Tonge (Liberal Democrat), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord Triesman (Labour) on Monday, 27 March 2006.

Israel and Palestine: Jericho Prison

Question: What representations they made to the Israeli Government, formally or informally, before withdrawing their monitors from Jericho prison.

Answer: The UK and US Consul-Generals issued a joint letter to President Abbas on 8 March 2006, which noted that if the Palestinian Authority (PA) did not come into full compliance with the Ramallah agreement and make substantive improvements to the security of the monitors or come to a new agreement with the government of Israel, we would have to withdraw our monitors with immediate effect. In accordance with our obligations under the Ramallah agreement, our ambassador in Tel Aviv informed the Israeli authorities that we were delivering a letter in these terms on 8 March. On 17 and 22 February, our ambassador in Tel Aviv informed the Israeli authorities that we might have to withdraw from the mission due to security concerns. This information was also communicated to the PA initially on 15 December 2005 and on at least five separate occasions after this point. On 10 March our ambassador in Tel Aviv contacted the Israeli authorities to urge that Israel exercise caution if the monitors had to withdraw. It was considered too dangerous for our monitors to inform either Israel or the PA of the actual date of withdrawal.

Secondary information