Hansard

I have stood here twice before to condemn the terrorist attack on 7 October and the inhumane horrors that have taken place since and which continue to unfold. Standing here for a third time is heartbreaking.

To date, the conflict has claimed the lives of more than 37,000 Palestinians. The UN’s latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification report shows that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians face catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity involving

“an extreme lack of food, starvation, and exhaustion”.

The conflict is out of control and is engulfing the West Bank, as shown by the awful images of a wounded Palestinian strapped to the bonnet of an Israeli military jeep speeding past ambulances rushing to the latest scene. The war threatens the entire region, as the bellicose Israeli leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, casually states that Israeli forces will soon move on to the Lebanon border.

This has all got to stop. The collective punishment of Palestinians must end. By denying Palestinian statehood internationally, we are all complicit in that collective punishment. I have Israeli friends who support ending the outrageous treatment of their neighbours, and they deserve our support.

I commend my colleague Humza Yousaf for lodging the motion before us. It states:

“Palestinian statehood is an inalienable right of the people of Palestine, not a privilege that can be vetoed by others”.

We must halt the endless cycle of violence and bloodshed, start a viable path for peace between Israel and Palestine, and immediately recognise a Palestinian state. That is essential. We need an end to the conflict, an end to the flagrant flouting of international law and an end to the complicity of an enabling UK state. The people whom we represent want to see that. However, as people in the UK prepare to vote, the silence around the UK’s position on Palestine is shameful.

When reading a recent article on Palestine by The Guardian columnist Owen Jones, I was struck by the opening line. It was a simple question:

“Is this a serious country or not?”

The simple answer is that it is not.

The outgoing Prime Minister has given his full backing to Israel’s genocidal response to the 7 October attacks. He is happy to flout the rulings of the globally recognised International Court of Justice by continuing to provide arms and enable Israel to conduct its on-going Rafah offensive, in flagrant breach of the ICJ ruling. Since the ruling, the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and others. Meanwhile, the UK states that the ICC has no jurisdiction, in wilful ignorance of the reality that, as a signatory to the Rome statute, the ICC does, in fact, have the power to investigate and issue rulings.

Recognising a Palestinian state would remove any of that wilful ignorance. That is why it is so important to do so, and to do so now. Recognising a Palestinian state would also furnish Palestine with the same rights and obligations of any state, so it would provide Palestine with equality in negotiations with Israel to create a future as an equal partner, demanding of and obligated to peace—a serious peace, a lasting peace and a just peace.

If we are to be a serious country, we must recognise that, we must respect international law and we must immediately join the 143 UN states that have voted to recognise the state of Palestine.