MPs have voted in favour of recognising Palestine as a state alongside Israel, although the government is not bound to do anything as a result of the vote, which is widely held to be 'symbolic'.The House of Commons backed the move "as a contribution to securing a negotiated two-state solution" - although less than half of MPs took part in the vote.
The result, 274 to 12, may be symbolic but it could have international implications, as the UK played such a major role in the creation of Israel and the subsequent Nakba.
Government ministers abstained on the vote, on a motion put forward by Labour MP Grahame Morris and amended by former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who has a record of equivocation.
Middle East Minister Tobias Ellwood said Britain reserved the right to recognise Palestine when it is ‘appropriate for the peace process’; but any delay in following this decision with any action, at least the ending of arms trade with the Israeli regime and a public declaration ofwillingness to open diplomatic relations with Palestine, might encourage a short-term increase in illegal Israeli colonisation and ‘settler’ aggression as a defence reaction.
In 2012 the UN General Assembly voted to upgrade the Palestinians' status to that of "non-member observer state".
The assembly voted 138 to nine in favour, with 41 nations - including the UK - abstaining.
Mr Morris told MPs that recognising Palestine as a state would be a ‘symbolically important’ step towards peace, saying relations between Israelis and Palestinians were "stuck at an impasse’.
Current UK government policy, as set out by former Foreign Secretary William Hague, is that it ‘reserves the right to recognise a Palestinian state bilaterally at the moment of our choosing and when it can best help bring about peace’.
The full motion stated: ‘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.’
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