Indy Alliance & Green MPs Demand UK Recognise Palestine NOW

Right, so it is all kicking off in parliament now as a cross-party group of MP’s, a cross party grouping a lot of us had a feeling would be working together going forwards, have indeed come together and launched a motion for the immediate recognition of the State of Palestine by the UK government, something that is woefully overdue, something that largely hasn’t happened because of our foreign policy no doubt being led by the US and it cannot be denied in no small part due to the lobbying of pro Israel vested interests having far too much influence on the highest levels of government.
It’s the first major move by the new Independent Alliance of MPs, the five Independent MPs elected across England at the last General Election, which of course includes Jeremy Corbyn, who, together with the Green Party MPs are pushing for something that globally is growing in consensus as something that needs to happen, the additional protections it would offer to the Palestinian people, but does it stand a hope in hell of succeeding in bringing this matter to the House of Commons and a meaningful vote, or will it just expose how many MPs remain completely unmoved by the atrocities we’ve witnessed in Gaza at Israel’s hands and is now increasing in ferocity in the West Bank too, when they inevitably continue to ignore it?
Right, so a motion to formally recognise the state of Palestine has been laid down as a cross party action by the 5 Independent Alliance MPs and the four Green Party MPs, thank goodness there is some leadership in parliament on the sort of thing this country should be doing, rather than bragging about having to freeze pensioners, starve kids, raise the state pension age and basically mete out a harder, more vicious form of austerity than the Tories did and no wonder Starmer’s approval ratings have plummeted like they have, as was the words of the SNP’s Pete Wishart at PMQs yesterday, to which Starmer simply bragged about how many MPs he has now, compared to the SNP. Notwithstanding the fact if that election was held again today, given how many people around the country who voted Labour are enduring significant buyers remorse, I daresay, Starmer didn’t earn those MPs, he conned them out of the public by yet again saying one thing which turns out to be a lie, and then does another. But now all those MPs, well, they’re going to be put to the test over the matter of Palestine. All those pro Israel donations some have received, the donations the party has received, Starmer himself heavily in debt to the Israel Lobby for simply being where he is, leader of the Labour Party and now Prime Minister, do they dare put their names to something the party leadership wouldn’t like?
Anyway, whilst we can entertain ourselves with the sort of mental gymnastics the pro Israel MPs might be doing at this news that this EDM has been laid down and indeed the fact people are actually talking about it, the motion itself is far more important, it’s been a source of eternal shame that the UK remains in the minority of nations globally who do not recognise a Palestinian state, especially since this country did so much to strip it away and hand it over to the Zionist movement, to create their state of Israel with all the war and land seizure, colonialism, and occupation that has ensued in the 76 years since. It really is brass neck stuff that we don’t recognise it, but such is how pervasive lobbying on such matters has been.
Recognition of the State of Palestine has been laid down in the form of an Early Day Motion on the parliamentary website, EDM 71 if you want to look it up yourself and see if your MP has signed or want to get in touch with them to do so. It reads:
‘That this House notes the UN General Assembly resolution of 9 May 2024 which recommended that the Security Council reconsider the matter of the recognition of the state of Palestine following the use of their veto by the United States on 18 April 2024; recognises the international community’s growing consensus, noting that as of May 2024 Ireland, Spain, and Norway joined 145 UN member states in recognising the state of Palestine; condemns the vote of Israel's Knesset on 18 July 2024 to reject the establishment of an independent Palestinian state; and calls on HM Government to immediately recognise the state of Palestine in accordance with the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion of 2024, which recognised that the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza strip constitute a single territorial unit the integrity of which is to be respected.’
I like the wording of that, I’ll go into the whys in a moment, but thusfar it has been signed by 16 MPs, at least at time of writing, I hope that will go up, though I’m also not all that surprised it’s so low given how bought and paid for so many parties and their MPs seem to be by the Israel Lobby. Who has signed it so far is quite interesting too though. The first 6 MPs who sign an EDM are called the sponsors and no surprise that consists of the 5 Independent Alliance MPs, plus Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer. The other signatories consist of the other 3 Green MPs, 4 members of the SNP, 1 Lib Dem – my own MP now funnily enough – and 2 of the seven MPs that Starmer suspended for voting to end the two child benefit cap keeping kids in poverty inflicted upon them by the Tories to be continued under Starmer because he’d rather do that than tax wealth. Just two of the seven, it’s John McDonnell and Apsana Begum. If the other 5 are just going to toe the line to get readmitted to Labour between now and when their six month time is up, to the point they won’t even put their name to an Early Day Motion which won’t even end up going to a vote, because they don’t, they simply draw attention to issues some MPs feel are significant, it tells Starmer that threatening them will work nicely any time he feels the need to. Fair play to McDonnell and Begum for not having it, I hope the others will sign it in due course and more besides. Perhaps their constituents might like to ask them about it.
The motion is canny though, because it points out several issues that have gone woefully reported in our media.
Many people will have heard of the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion that regarded the occupation of Palestine by Israel as no longer a legal occupation, but less was said of the fact the court also said that the State of Palestine should be recognised as well for it’s own protection. When so much is made of Israel’s right to exist, does Palestine have that same right and if not why? Is it not time our parliament was made to vote accordingly and show how whether or not Israel gets special treatment in this regard or not?
Of the 193 UN member states, 145 of them already do recognise the State of Palestine, so the UK is one of just 48 UN member states that don’t. That, considering Ireland, Spain and Norway now recognise the State of Palestine and have done so for the sake of the Palestinian people in light of the genocide Israel engaged in on Gaza following the night of October 7th is to protect the sanctity of that state and recognise the need to protect those people. Israel already see these people as less worthy, less than human, enact apartheid upon them and have done for decades, are we going to do likewise by refusing to recognise their right to exist in lands that were theirs and weren’t ours here in the UK, to frankly give away back in the waning days of the British Empire? Will we recognise frankly the error of our ways? I won’t hold my breath when we have a Zionist without qualification as our Prime Minister now, even if he does still seem to think Rishi Sunak is – if you didn’t see PMQs yesterday, honestly Starmer had a mare.
Anyway, if we don’t recognise a Palestinian State, if we still refuse to do that, then we’re no better frankly than the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, which itself voted to reject the establishment of a Palestinian state. I don’t want to be compared to them in any way, shape or form.
It will also, as a member of the UN Security Council, heap more pressure on those still voting to reject the recognition of a Palestinians State. Leave the US and their veto hung out to dry. We’ve abstained at the Security Council for long enough and is it not tiresome that these permanent members can consistently block what is the obvious and humane thing to do as the US keeps on doing? Let them bring shame upon themselves without being helped by us here in the UK as well.
Apart from anything else, it is just a stupid position that we’re in by not recognising a Palestinian State. We support this notion still, as impossible as it seems with the way Israel continues to conduct itself, called a two state solution. In what way can we possibly say we support a two state solution, when we refuse to formally recognise one of those states? It is shameless, brazen hypocrisy and only serves to reinforce the belief amongst many that the whole two state solution schtick is simply paying lip service to a situation we actually have no real interest in resolving, because the other state, the bigger state, the more powerful state, is through it’s various lobbyists and other interests, lining politicians pockets? How can we expect – especially when it comes to Labour and the Conservative MPs – for them to even sign an EDM, let alone vote for a Palestinian State when both have a ‘Friends of Israel’ grouping within their parties?
Would I like to see those MPs defy such positions? Of course, but I cannot help but expect that not to happen. If we’re frankly sick of being shamed over this issue, then the only way we’ll realistically see that change is to stop voting for both of those parties and vote for the progressive ones, they are certainly showing you who the progressives are by who actually backs this EDM. Keep an eye on it and others, they are incredibly revealing and you can see which EDMs your MP has backed on the government website too.
Meanwhile of course in only giving a damn about one state and not the other, the small matter of an arms sale ban that isn’t one has garnered much media attention, but they’ve only scratched the surface of it. There are bigger issues to David Lammy’s pathetic gesture politics over Israel and Palestine as this video recommendation will tell you all about and I’ll hopefully catch you on the next vid. Cheers folks.