Billy
22nd September 2014, 12:04
Wow. The UK Parliament Will Vote To Recognize The State Of Palestine.
http://falastinews.com/2014/09/21/uk-parliament-will-vote-recognize-state-palestine/
In an apparent sign of division between back and front bench MPs in the House of Commons, backbenchers have secured a vote for the House to recognize the state of Palestine.
The title of the debate will be: THE FUTURE OF THE TWO STATE SOLUTION IN ISRAEL AND PALESTINE.
The debate will take place on 13 Oct 2014, it will be six hours long and happen in the main chamber.
It will be a debate on a substantive motion: “That this House calls on the government to recognise the state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel”
27306
The debate will be a Backbench Business Debate (BBD). Backbench MPs can make applications for debates and the Backbench Business Committee (BBC) decides on whether to allow the debate time in parliament. It is the BBC who are responsible for making the debate happen.
The application was originally presented to the BBC on 8th April 2014. They deferred their decision until after recess. Sources within Westminster told Scriptonite Daily that the primary reason for this was a rival application submitted by a coalition of Labour, Lib Dem and Tory friends of Israel.
Grahame Morris MP (Labour) re-presented the application again last Tuesday with the support of two Lead Members: Sarah Teather MP (LIB) and Crispin Blunt MP (CON). Labour’s Gerald Kaufman MP joined Morris, and the pair persuasively argued the case for the debate.
It’s the government, not the House that recognises states. Plus, it’s a BBD so the motions are none binding. Essentially, the vote will be an expression of the will of the House.
If it’s a yes vote the government and any subsequent government would be pressured towards recognising Palestine. It would be a PR disaster for the govt. to refuse to recognise Palestine if MPs expressed their will that Palestine should be recognised.
It will put pressure on Labour back up Douglas Alexander’s stance that a future Labour government would recognise the state of Palestine, after the UK government abstained on the 2012 UN General Assembly vote.
The government will also have to clarify their position. While paying lip service to the notions of Palestinian statehood, the coalition government have contradicted this in actions, such as the decision to abstain on the 2012 UN vote.
This is in line with the policy of US President Barack Obama who has also made repeated public appeals for the two-state solution, while veto-ing Palestine’s bid to become a member of the United Nations. He publicly criticized Israel for expanding its illegal settlement construction, yet vetoed a planned UN Security Council Resolution to tackle the problem.
This vote is intended to put some space between UK and US policy on the matter.
Grahame Morris MP told Scriptonite Daily:
“I’m delighted that we have secured this debate. Abstaining on the recognition of the state of Palestine in the UN General Assembly was an utterly shameful act that placed the UK on the wrong side of history.
The consensus from all Westminster parties is that the only resolution to the Israel-Palestine conflict is a just peace founded on a two-state solution. So far, this has been government policy in rhetoric only.
We know that only independence and sovereignty for Palestine can save the two-state solution. We hear a lot of talk in support of the peace process but on October 13th MPs will have the opportunity to back up their words with actions.”
Read more here. http://falastinews.com/2014/09/21/uk-parliament-will-vote-recognize-state-palestine/
http://falastinews.com/2014/09/21/uk-parliament-will-vote-recognize-state-palestine/
In an apparent sign of division between back and front bench MPs in the House of Commons, backbenchers have secured a vote for the House to recognize the state of Palestine.
The title of the debate will be: THE FUTURE OF THE TWO STATE SOLUTION IN ISRAEL AND PALESTINE.
The debate will take place on 13 Oct 2014, it will be six hours long and happen in the main chamber.
It will be a debate on a substantive motion: “That this House calls on the government to recognise the state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel”
27306
The debate will be a Backbench Business Debate (BBD). Backbench MPs can make applications for debates and the Backbench Business Committee (BBC) decides on whether to allow the debate time in parliament. It is the BBC who are responsible for making the debate happen.
The application was originally presented to the BBC on 8th April 2014. They deferred their decision until after recess. Sources within Westminster told Scriptonite Daily that the primary reason for this was a rival application submitted by a coalition of Labour, Lib Dem and Tory friends of Israel.
Grahame Morris MP (Labour) re-presented the application again last Tuesday with the support of two Lead Members: Sarah Teather MP (LIB) and Crispin Blunt MP (CON). Labour’s Gerald Kaufman MP joined Morris, and the pair persuasively argued the case for the debate.
It’s the government, not the House that recognises states. Plus, it’s a BBD so the motions are none binding. Essentially, the vote will be an expression of the will of the House.
If it’s a yes vote the government and any subsequent government would be pressured towards recognising Palestine. It would be a PR disaster for the govt. to refuse to recognise Palestine if MPs expressed their will that Palestine should be recognised.
It will put pressure on Labour back up Douglas Alexander’s stance that a future Labour government would recognise the state of Palestine, after the UK government abstained on the 2012 UN General Assembly vote.
The government will also have to clarify their position. While paying lip service to the notions of Palestinian statehood, the coalition government have contradicted this in actions, such as the decision to abstain on the 2012 UN vote.
This is in line with the policy of US President Barack Obama who has also made repeated public appeals for the two-state solution, while veto-ing Palestine’s bid to become a member of the United Nations. He publicly criticized Israel for expanding its illegal settlement construction, yet vetoed a planned UN Security Council Resolution to tackle the problem.
This vote is intended to put some space between UK and US policy on the matter.
Grahame Morris MP told Scriptonite Daily:
“I’m delighted that we have secured this debate. Abstaining on the recognition of the state of Palestine in the UN General Assembly was an utterly shameful act that placed the UK on the wrong side of history.
The consensus from all Westminster parties is that the only resolution to the Israel-Palestine conflict is a just peace founded on a two-state solution. So far, this has been government policy in rhetoric only.
We know that only independence and sovereignty for Palestine can save the two-state solution. We hear a lot of talk in support of the peace process but on October 13th MPs will have the opportunity to back up their words with actions.”
Read more here. http://falastinews.com/2014/09/21/uk-parliament-will-vote-recognize-state-palestine/