Hansard

I thank Sandra White for lodging the motion, which I fully support. She has a history of supporting the Palestinian cause, not only in the Parliament but in the middle east. I had the privilege of joining her on a 24-hour mission to east Jerusalem, the West Bank and Israel not long ago. We met the families of two hunger-striking prisoners, various political representatives and the UK ambassador to Israel in Tel Aviv.

Those two prisoners had been hunger striking for more than 200 days because they had been arrested and held in custody without any charge. They were at the point of death and the fear was that, if they died in custody, an uprising might occur.

The Parliament has a proud record of standing up for the recognition of the Palestinian state. Pauline McNeill, who is in the public gallery and was an MSP in the previous session, is still deeply involved. Hugh O’Donnell, Claudia Beamish, John Finnie and Jean Urquhart are all active in standing up for the people who others fear to stand up for.

The Parliament is not the only place where recognition of Palestine is increasing, although it is not increasing quickly enough, of course. At the Lib Dem party conference in October, we passed a motion to

“Encourage the European Union to recognise the State of Palestine within pre-1967 borders and with land swaps agreed by the Israeli and Palestinian authorities through peace negotiations in good faith on the basis of each side’s entitlements under international law.”

As others have mentioned, on 13 October, the House of Commons voted by 274 votes to a mere 12 to approve the motion

“That this House believes that the Government should recognise the state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel, as a contribution to securing a negotiated two state solution.”

Sandra White is right to recognise our responsibility. After all, Mr Balfour of the Balfour declaration was one of my constituents—he was from East Lothian—so he was a Scot.

The world’s view of Palestine is changing, albeit slowly, but there has never been a greater need for parity for Palestine. It fulfilled its obligations for electing its representatives and, from that, we should have been able to negotiate meaningfully—without bloodshed and without repercussions—towards the two-state solution agreed by the UN. We have only to look at India and South Africa to see that progress is made only through peaceful negotiations and mutual respect. Nothing is gained from any side taking up arms. Too many innocents have shed blood already.

We all remember the work that many politicians from all sides did in Scotland and the UK to make our concerns about South Africa ring loud and clear. Apartheid is inhumane, but we see it still today. When Sandra White and I were last in the middle east, it had recently been announced that there would be Israeli-only bus routes with no Palestinians allowed. On our route back to the airport, we negotiated for about half an hour with an armed Israeli official who admitted that the reason why he questioned us so much was that our taxi driver happened to hold a Palestinian passport. Such treatment is the norm in the occupied territories.

Four minutes is not long to make the case for the recognition of the Palestinian state in a two-state solution going back to 1967 borders. The situation in Palestine is intolerable. Gaza is still besieged, apartheid is the norm and prisoners are held without charge. There is evidence of children being illegally arrested. The people have no identity and no simple access to medicine, employment, schooling or their human rights. That is unsustainable, is inhuman and has no place in our 21st century world. After all,

“The inhumanity of man toward man is our greatest sin.”

I support the motion in Sandra White’s name and look forward to visiting Palestine in the near future when the Palestinians have equality and parity of rights with their fellow world citizens and neighbours.