After a four-hour debate during which over 50 MPs spoke, the British Parliament overwhelmingly voted in favor of the government recognizing Palestine as a state on Monday night. The ayes had it when 274 MPs voted to adopt the non-binding motion and only 12 voted against it. The original motion stipulated that “this House believes that the government should recognize the state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel.” During the debate it was amended to include the words “as a contribution to securing a negotiated two-state solution.”
Prime Minister David Cameron and his government ministers abstained from the vote, which was called by an opposition lawmaker, and Cameron’s spokesman earlier said foreign policy would not be affected whatever the outcome.
Over 300 Israeli figures signed a letter Sunday urging the British Parliament to vote in favor of recognizing a Palestinian state on Monday. “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,” the letter reads.
The signatories include an Israeli Nobel Prize winner, several Israel Prize winners, academics, former education minister Yossi Sarid, and former minister of industry and trade Ran Cohen. Former director-general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Alon Liel, a former ambassador to South Africa and charge d’affaires to Turkey, is one of the organizers of the letter. Liel has expressed his support for the boycott of products originating in West Bank settlements and cultural boycotts of Israel to protest the lack of a peace process. Ilan Baruch, a former envoy to Pretoria who in 2011 quit his post claiming he could no longer represent Israel because of its allegedly indefensible policies, is also a signatory.
The UN General Assembly approved the de facto recognition of the sovereign state of Palestine in 2012 but the European Union and most EU countries, including Britain, have yet to give official recognition. The Palestinian Authority estimates at 134 the number of countries that have recognized Palestine as a state although the number is disputed and several recognitions by European Union member states date back to the Soviet era. Newly-elected Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Loefven this month announced his intention to recognize a Palestinian state.
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