Over 60 British MPs support UN recognition of Palestine

LONDON, September 13, 2012 (WAFA) - Over 60 Members of the British Parliament (MPs) from across seven political parties signed a parliamentary motion supporting UN recognition of Palestine, Thursday said an MPs press release.

The MPs signed the motion after President Mahmoud Abbas declared his intention to ask the UN General Assembly to recognize Palestine as a non-member state when the General Assembly meets between 24 September and 1 October, said the release.

The motion, tabled by Richard Burden MP, has been signed by 61 MPs so far including former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and other former ministers from both Labour and Conservative governments, “That this House supports recognition by the UN of Palestine as a state alongside the state of Israel.”

The motion has received the support of MPs from seven political parties: Conservative, Green, Labour, Liberal Democrat, Plaid Cymru, SDLP and SNP.

Richard Burden, Labor MP for Birmingham Northfield and Chair of the Britain-Palestine All Party Parliamentary Group, said, “Time after time British ministers have declared their support in theory for a two-state solution in the Middle East. But this is the make your mind up time about whether they mean it in practice.” more

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