A SENIOR Scottish Labour MP has joined the SNP in their call for the UK Government to recognise Palestine as a state.
On Thursday morning, SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn urged the Labour Government to take the step in order to demonstrate the UK’s opposition to US president Donald Trump’s call to ethnically cleanse Gaza.
Labour ministers have stopped short of condemning Trump’s comments – which if enacted would be a breach of international law – but have reiterated that the UK Government believes in a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Calling for the UK to recognise the state of Palestine, Flynn said Labour could not “claim to support a two-state solution if it's not prepared to recognise both states”.
“If Keir Starmer won’t publicly condemn President Trump’s plan, then he must take steps to stop it,” the SNP MP went on.
“One of the most concrete and consequential responses the UK Labour Government can now take is to urgently, officially and finally recognise the state of Palestine.”
Speaking at Westminster on Thursday morning, Scottish Labour MP Patricia Ferguson also called on the UK Government to recognise Palestine.
Ferguson, the chair of Westminster’s Scottish Affairs Committee, said: “Over the last 16 or so months, we have seen Palestinian people being displaced from their homes and communities on many occasions, not just once, but perhaps twice or three times.
“In diplomacy, we believe that timing is everything.
“So in order to give the Palestinian people some protection from outside actors who seem to wish to dictate what should happen to them, is it not now the time that the international community and our government should recognise Palestine as a state and give all the international supports and strengths that gives it?”
Responding, Foreign Office Minister Anneliese Dodds declined to say the UK Government would recognise Palestine as a state.
“My honourable friend was right to refer to the levels of displacement, as I said previously, 90% of the population of Gaza have been displaced, as she says, some twice or three times, some up to nine times having been displaced,” Dodds said.
“When we consider the impact on whole families having to move so many times, I'm sure that we're all disturbed by that.
“She is right that timing is important, of course it is. That is why the UK Government is considering this so carefully.
“We must use the mechanisms we have available to us to ensure above all that we get to a two-state solution and the peace that is the right of Palestinians and Israelis.”
Previously, Labour have committed to recognising Palestine “as a contribution to a renewed peace process which results in a two-state solution” – but declined to give a timescale on when that might happen.
Asked for a response to the SNP’s calls, the UK Government declined to comment.
