Mr. Hugh Lovatt:

I will attack some of the first questions before handing over to colleagues. On the Israeli Government's settlement policy, we are in the early days in the life of the Israeli Government, which has such a heterogenous political composition. My view is that because of the difficulties in the Israeli Government, which needs a balance between centre left and right-wing ideology, there will be a continuation of the settlement policy under Mr. Netanyahu. Over the past few weeks we have seen that continuation.

Settlement policy is not just about the building of these settlements, which is continuing in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, but it is also about the forcible dispossession of Palestinians. That continues in the likes of Silwan, Sheikh Jarrah or Humsa in the Jordan Valley or elsewhere. Some of the mood music may change in the future if, hypothetically, there is US pressure. Perhaps they will try to row back some of the more egregious examples of Israeli settlement building and eviction of Palestinians.

While there could be some tweaks to that on the margins, the full thrust of Israel's settlement policy will remain unchanged. It has remained unchanged since 1967, irrespective of who has been Prime Minister.

On US influence, my advice to European governments would be that at a moment in which the prospects for meaningful negotiations are not just deadlocked but have frankly evaporated and at a moment in which the US has limited bandwidth and is not seeking to prioritise this conflict beyond some minimum conflict management measures, there is clearly an opening for the EU and its member states to take a more forward leaning and proactive role. The preference is to focus on the bigger picture political issues and the need to revive negotiations. My advice is to focus on the fundamentals. When it comes to Israel, the fundamental issue is the need to check its settlement activities and the effect this can produce on the domestic conversation within Israel. My plea to European governments is to invest some effort and political capital in that. Perhaps the US Government will, at least privately, be receptive to seeing Europe taking a more forward leaning role and investing political capital to take real action in support of the future revival of negotiations.