On Monday 13th October, Parliament’s first day back after recess, there will be a Backbench Business debate titled ‘Palestine and Israel’ in the Main Chamber.
The six hour long debate was secured by LFPME Chair Grahame Morris MP along with the support of Sir Bob Russell MP (LibDem), Crispin Blunt MP (Con) and Caroline Lucas MP (Green).
It will be the first opportunity for MPs to discuss the issue in a full debate since 2009, but the debate is significant for another reason – there will be a vote-able motion to:
“That this House believes that the Government should recognise the state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel.”
Despite the two-state solution having been the UK’s stated policy aim for decades, consecutive governments have failed to back up their rhetoric with action. When Palestine made a bid for recognition at the UN General Assembly in 2012, the Coalition Government actually abstained, placing the UK in the minority of nations who resisted the Palestinian push towards statehood.
At the time of the abstention, Labour criticised the Government and Ed Miliband and the Shadow Foreign Secretary, Douglas Alexander MP, persuasively argued for the recognition of the State of Palestine.
When Ed & Douglas stood up for recognising Palestine, LFPME and millions of voters in the UK were proud of Labour’s principled stance. As Douglas Alexander says “Palestinian statehood is not a gift to be given, but a right to be recognised”, and on 13th October the Labour Party will have the opportunity to try and make that right a reality.
The arguments in support of Palestinian statehood are well rehearsed and the British government has already accepted Palestine’s right to statehood and agreed that Palestine has all the attributes worthy of a state.
Not only will recognition help the Palestinian people to realise fundamental rights and freedoms which have for too long been denied, but will help reinvigorate negotiations between Israel and Palestine.
As this summer’s protest showed, Palestine is now a mainstream political issue. The oppression of the Palestinian people and the denial of basic human rights alarms millions of people in the UK and there are growing calls for the UK to play a constructive role in achieving peace and justice in the region.
For over 60 years the right to statehood has been denied to the Palestinian people and action is long overdue. Having authored the Israel-Palestine conflict, the UK ought to live up to its responsibility to try and secure peace and justice for both peoples. On 13th October, MPs will have their chance.