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| 220 MPs call for Keir Starmer to recognise Palestinian state | 220 MPs call for Keir Starmer to recognise Palestinian state |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| More than a third of MPs have signed a letter to Sir Keir Starmer calling for the UK to recognise Palestinian statehood. | More than a third of MPs have signed a letter to Sir Keir Starmer calling for the UK to recognise Palestinian statehood. |
| Some 220 MPs from nine political parties have backed the call, more than half of them Labour, arguing that UK recognition would send a "powerful" message and a vital step toward a two-state solution. | |
| The letter piles fresh pressure on the PM after France made a commitment to recognise Palestinian statehood within months. | The letter piles fresh pressure on the PM after France made a commitment to recognise Palestinian statehood within months. |
| But in a statement after an emergency phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron and Germany's Friedrich Merz, Sir Keir said recognition of a Palestinian state had to be part of a "wider plan which ultimately results in a two-state solution". | |
| In his statement, Sir Keir said: "Alongside our closest allies, I am working on a pathway to peace in the region, focused on the practical solutions that will make a real difference to the lives of those that are suffering in this war. | In his statement, Sir Keir said: "Alongside our closest allies, I am working on a pathway to peace in the region, focused on the practical solutions that will make a real difference to the lives of those that are suffering in this war. |
| "That pathway will set out the concrete steps needed to turn the ceasefire so desperately needed, into a lasting peace. | "That pathway will set out the concrete steps needed to turn the ceasefire so desperately needed, into a lasting peace. |
| "Recognition of a Palestinian state has to be one of those steps. I am unequivocal about that. | "Recognition of a Palestinian state has to be one of those steps. I am unequivocal about that. |
| "But it must be part of a wider plan which ultimately results in a two-state solution and lasting security for Palestinians and Israelis." | "But it must be part of a wider plan which ultimately results in a two-state solution and lasting security for Palestinians and Israelis." |
| A joint statement from the leaders of UK, France and Germany, following their emergency call, does not mention Palestinian statehood. | A joint statement from the leaders of UK, France and Germany, following their emergency call, does not mention Palestinian statehood. |
| But it said all three countries "stand ready to take further action to support an immediate ceasefire and a political process that leads to lasting security and peace for Israelis, Palestinians and the entire region". | But it said all three countries "stand ready to take further action to support an immediate ceasefire and a political process that leads to lasting security and peace for Israelis, Palestinians and the entire region". |
| The statement is critical of the Israeli government, demanding an end to aid restrictions and warning the "humanitarian catastrophe that we are witnessing in Gaza must end now". | The statement is critical of the Israeli government, demanding an end to aid restrictions and warning the "humanitarian catastrophe that we are witnessing in Gaza must end now". |
| The statement also stresses Hamas must be disarmed and "have no role in the future of Gaza". | The statement also stresses Hamas must be disarmed and "have no role in the future of Gaza". |
| The letter comes after the UK and 27 other countries condemned the "drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians" seeking food and water in Gaza. | |
| Israel, which controls the entry of all supplies into the Palestinian territory, has repeatedly said that there is no siege, blaming Hamas for any cases of malnutrition. | |
| Israel's foreign ministry rejected the countries' statement, saying it was "disconnected from reality and sends the wrong message to Hamas". | |
| According to the UN human rights office, more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military while trying to get food aid over the past two months. | |
| The letter has been signed by 131 Labour MPs, including senior figures like former minister Liam Byrne and committee chair Ruth Cadbury. | |
| Lib Dem Leader Sir Ed Davey, former Tory minister Kit Malthouse and Conservative Sir Edward Leigh - parliament's longest serving MP - have also signed. | |
| SNP, Greens, Plaid Cymru, SDLP and independents were among those who signed the letter. | |
| The letter argued that a Parliament has held a "cross-party consensus for decades" on recognising Palestinian statehood as part of a "two-state solution". | |
| While recognition alone would not end the suffering in Gaza, "British recognition of Palestine would be particularly powerful" given its history in the region, the MPs say. | |
| Labour MP Sarah Champion, who chairs the international development select committee and who organised the letter, said a two-state solution "remains the only viable proposal to secure a lasting peace for the region". | |
| "Recognition would send a powerful symbolic message that we support the rights of the Palestinian people, that they are not alone and they need to maintain hope that there is a route that leads to lasting peace and security for both the Israeli and the Palestinian people," she added. | |
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