Patrick Wintour, of the Guardian writes
MPs vote to recognise Palestinian state, adding to pressure on Israel. The non-binding vote is more symbolic than substantive as Prime Minister David Cameron has already announced he will only change British foreign policy when he feels like it is best for the prospects of peace, but this vote does indicate the strong direction of a change in British public opinion.
The vote of 274 to 12, a majority of 262, on a backbench motion has no practical impact on British government policy and ministers were instructed not to vote. Labour decided to impose a one-line whip, and the Liberal Democrats, like the Conservatives, gave their backbenchers a free vote.
In an emotional moment in the debate, Richard Ottoway, the Conservative chairmen of the foreign affairs select committee said the report of Israel's annexation of more land in the West Bank angered him a great deal.
The Conservative MP said he had been a supporter of the state of Israel before he became a Tory and had close family connections with the generation that formed the Israeli state. He explained: “The Holocaust had a deep impact on me growing up in the wake of the second world war,” adding that he had been a strong supporter of Israel in the six day war and subsequent conflicts.
He told MPs: “Looking back over the past 20 years, I realise now Israel has slowly been drifting away from world public opinion. The annexation of the 950 acres of the West Bank just a few months ago has outraged me more than anything else in my political life. It has made me look a fool and that is something I deeply resent.”
He said he was not yet convinced that Palestine was fit to be a state due to its refusal to recognise Israel, adding that “in normal circumstances” he would have opposed the motion. But, he said, “such is my anger with the behaviour of Israel in recent months that I will not be opposing this motion. I have to say to the government of Israel: if it is losing people like me, it is going to be losing a lot of people.”
Former foreign secretary Jack Straw spoke for many when he noted that the current policy of saying Palestinians will only receive recognition at the conclusion of a peace agreement with Israel was effectively giving Prime Minister Netanyahu a veto over the creation of the Palestinian state.
An earlier article in Haaretz indicated Prime Minister Cameron would abstain from the vote: Cameron to abstain from Palestine recognition vote
The spokesman said the vote, called by an opposition lawmaker, would not change Britain's diplomatic stance. Britain does not classify Palestine as a state, but says it could do so at any time if it believed it would help peace efforts between the Palestinians and Israel.
The debate comes just as Sweden's new center-left government is set to recognise officially Palestine -- a move that has been condemned by Israel, which says an independent Palestine can only be achieved through negotiations.
The British parliamentary motion, which is expected to come to a vote around 9:00 P.M. GMT, states: "That this House believes that the Government should recognise the state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel."
Hundreds of Israeli Public Figures Call Upon Members of the British Parliament to Vote in Favor of Recognizing the State of Palestine by Gush Shalom, of Global Research reports support even within Israelfrom the left.
363 Israeli public figures have signed a letter to the Members of the British Parliament, calling upon them to vote in favor of British recognition of a Palestinian State, to be created side-by-side with Israel.
The letter reads:
“We, Israelis who worry and care for the well-being of the state of Israel, believe that the long-term existence and security of Israel depends on the long-term existence and security of a Palestinian state. For this reason we, the undersigned, urge members of the UK Parliament to vote in favor of the motion to be debated on Monday 13th October 2014, calling on the British Government to recognize the State of Palestine alongside the State of Israel “.
Signatories include:
Nobel Prize Laureate (Economics) Daniel Kahneman
Six Laureates of the Israel Prize – Professors Alice Levy, David Har’el, Shimon Sandbank, Yehoshua Kolodny, Yona Rosenfeld and Yoram Bilu;
Two former ministers – Ran Cohen and Yossi Sarid, as well as four former Knesset Members – Uri Avnery, Yael Dayan, Mossi Raz and Naomi Chazan;
Former Ambassador and Director General of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Dr. Alon Liel, as well as former Ambassador Ilan Baruch;
Gen. (ret.) Emanuel Shaked, former of the Paratooper Corps;
Former Attorney General Michael Ben-Yair;
Four writers – Yehoshua Sobol, Yehudit Kafri, Savyon Liebrecht and Amos Mokadi;
Professor Rafi Walden, Deputy Ditector of the Shiba Hospital and Chair of “Physicians for Human Rights”
Yuval Rahamim, Co-Chair of “Bereaved Families for Palestinian-Israeli Peace” and the grouop’s founder Yitzhak Frankenthal;
Now that Prime Minister Netanyahu has categorically rejected the prospect of a truly independent Palestinian state it appears to me that only hope left for those that support a peaceful two-state solution is to dramatically change the playing field and ground assumptions.
If we want a two-state solution then the first step is to recognize the Palestinian state with President Abbas as its leader and declare that unless both countries agree to land swaps, the pre 1967 will be the default. Then the U.N. or other international body, should accept President Abbas' call for them to replace the I.D.F. forces on Palestinian territory. If Israel refuses, then major global sanctions, including limits to trade, banking, and travel can be imposed by the majority of the 122 nations that have already recognized Palestine in bilateral agreements. Over 145 or so countries voted for Palestine to be accepted to the U.N. General Assembly, despite the U.S. veto in the Security Council.
The advantage of this plan is does not require the blessing of either the United States or Israel, neither of which has shown any real interest in supporting a Palestinian state.
Let's hope this is a step in the right direction. The Palestinian's could help their cause a great deal if they pressured Hamas to change its charter which apparently still contains the out-dated denial of Israel's right to exist even behind the 1967 borders.
But, many have written recently that it is already too late for a two-state solution and that Israel has already de-facto annexed East Jerusalem and the West Bank. So Palestinians ought to be agitating instead for full citizenship, equal rights, and the right to vote forcing Israel to choose between being a democracy or a Jewish State.
Perhaps, a wide-spread global movement to immediately recognize Palestine will help bring this idea back to life, leading to a possibility of both Palestinians self-determination and the preservation of the idea of a Jewish State within the 1967 borders.
5:49 PM PT: An op-ed in the Jerusalem Post, was not as enthusiastic as seen in Foreign Ministry blasts British vote on Palestinian statehood, PLO lauds motion.
A communique published late Monday by the Israeli Embassy in London criticized the vote carried out by MPs in Britain's lower house of parliament, stressing that, "The route to Palestinian statehood runs through the negotiating room."
"Premature international recognition sends a troubling message to the Palestinian leadership that they can evade the tough choices that both sides have to make, and actually undermines the chances to reach a real peace," read the statement. "Recognition of a Palestinian state should be the result of a successful conclusion of direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority." ...
“This vote was an empty public stunt that will have no impact other than to reduce the United Kingdom’s standing as an honest broker in international affairs," American Council for World Jewry Chairman Jack Rosen said in a statement following the vote that passed 274-12 in favor of the motion.
"The recognition of Palestine is not contingent upon on the outcome of negotiations with Israel and certainly not something we will trade for; this claim is not only unfair, but immoral,” said senior PLO official Hanan Ashrawi.