The “Jerusalem Post” reported on Sunday that the British Parliament members will decide in a month whether their government should recognize the existence of an official Palestinian State.
The politicians will vote on October 13.
Grahame Morris, a Labour party politician, said the following:
“This House believes that the government should recognize that state of Palestine alongside the State of Israel.”
The debate will offer British MPs the first ever opportunity to vote on the issue. British government have always favoured first securing an agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians before considering granting Palestinians recognition.
Pro-Israel MPs have already proposed an amendment in which they insisted that any call for establishing a Palestinian state should come about only “on the conclusion of successful peace negotiations between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority.”
The newspaper said that a Foreign Office spokesman indicated that the government would probably not endorse the pro-Palestinian call. He added that the British government “reserved the right to bilaterally recognize a Palestinian state at a moment of our choosing and when it can best help bring about peace.” He also noted that the government continues to believe that negotiations toward a two-state solution are the best.
In the UK, it’s the government and not the House that recognizes states. Essentially, the vote will express the will of the House. However and according to some sources, if it is a yes vote, the government and any subsequent government would be pressured towards recognizing Palestine as it would be a disaster for the government to refuse to recognize Palestine if MPs expressed their will that Palestine should be recognized.
The Moroccan Times.
