Nearly 60 British Labour MPs Urge UK to Recognize Palestine Immediately
(MENAFN) Close to 60 British Labour MPs have urgently called on the UK government to officially recognize Palestine as a sovereign state and take swift action to halt what they label “ethnic cleansing” in Gaza, according to a media report on Saturday.
Coordinated by the Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East, the letter was endorsed by 59 MPs spanning both centrist and left-wing factions. It was delivered to Foreign Secretary David Lammy on Thursday, urging immediate intervention.
The MPs raised alarms over Israel’s alleged scheme to construct a “humanitarian city” made up of tents amid the rubble of Rafah, located in southern Gaza. They warned that this initiative equates to forcibly displacing civilians and effectively erasing Palestinian presence from the area.
"It is with great urgency and concern that we are writing to you regarding the Israeli defence minister’s announcement on Monday of his plans to forcibly transfer all Palestinian civilians in Gaza to a camp in the ruined city of Rafah without allowing them to leave," the letter read, calling the plan “ethnic cleansing.”
In addition to demanding the UK restore funding to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) and support efforts to secure hostage releases, the MPs pressed for the UK to impose a trade blockade targeting goods produced in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
"By not recognising [Palestine] as a state, we undermine our own policy of a two-state solution and set an expectation that the status quo can continue and see the effective erasure and annexation of Palestinian territory," the lawmakers stressed.
Despite the rising urgency, the UK government, under the leadership of the Labour party, has yet to officially revise its stance on Palestinian statehood. The conflict in Gaza has now stretched into its tenth month, with Palestinian authorities and global observers reporting widespread displacement, devastation of infrastructure, and the breakdown of ceasefire talks.
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