Mr. Simon Randles:

To follow up on the question of disputed territories, as Mr. Holt has identified, we are talking about occupied territory. It is fair to say that Israel rejects that diagnosis. Israel asserts that these are disputed territories. There are very few countries in the world that would agree with that. We know that Israel asserts that, because if it is not occupied territory, international humanitarian law cannot apply. Therefore, Israel frees itself of this multitude of very significant obligations it would have as an occupying power. We understand the motivations for the assertion but we should collectively push back against it.

On the question of incentives for the settlers to live in settlements, a wide range of financial incentives are made available. As far as I understand, they consist of reduced property prices, grants for establishing businesses and preferential tax rates. I believe there is a fairly broad range of incentives. That brings me to another point. Israel has asserted that the transfer of settlers is not a legal violation because it is not physically transporting them to the West Bank. However, it has been determined by far more authoritative legal voices than me that the creation of these incentives and the promotion of this transfer also constitutes a violation.

Should the international community be asking for settlers to be removed? Yes, in essence. Whether that would be successful is another question. Israel has not been at all shy about this policy. It has been identified as dating back to the 1970s. Indeed, Ariel Sharon, former Israeli Prime Minister, stated: "everything we take now will stay ours", meaning the land in which they could put Israeli roots would become sovereign Israeli territory. It is creating facts on the ground. It is de facto annexation, which has been a pattern for decades. It explains why it is something against which we are firmly pushing back.

I will close by making the point that we really need to focus on addressing the curve that we showed members in the final slide of our presentation, illustrating the trajectory of settlement expansion and settler population. The only way that that curve looks acceptable from an international law perspective, is if it is going down. That is the point on which I will finish.