A proposed law requiring the UK to recognise a Palestinian state has been rejected by the Government.
Liberal Democrat former minister Baroness Northover tabled the Palestine Statehood (Recognition) Bill in the hope of pushing the UK Government to act on its ambition for a two-state solution.
The Bill was backed by several peers, including calls from some on the Labour benches for immediate change and a need to “move beyond the slogan of a two-state solution”.
Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Northover addresses the House of Lords (House of Lords/UK Parliament)
But there was also strong opposition to the Bill in the upper chamber, with Conservative former minister Baroness Altmann claiming it would act as a “licence for further terrorism”.
Foreign Office minister Baroness Chapman of Darlington said: “This Government unequivocally supports a two-state solution that guarantees security and stability for both the Israeli and Palestinian people.
“That is why our long-standing position is that we will recognise a Palestinian state at a time that is most conducive to the peace process.”
She added: “But we do not support this Bill today. Not because we do not support the goal, as many have said – this Government strongly supports recognition of a state of Palestine – but because imposing a timetable on this decision would hinder our ability to achieve the goal of a two-state solution.
“We must take this step when the time is right. Meanwhile, we will work tirelessly alongside our international partners to support a process towards sustainable peace.”
The Bill received an unopposed second reading, as is convention for private members’ bills in the Lords, and will undergo further scrutiny at a later stage.
It faces a battle to make progress due to a lack of parliamentary time to consider backbench proposals.
Opening the second reading debate, Lady Northover said: “My Bill would require the Government to recognise Palestine as a sovereign and independent state on pre-1967 lines, just as almost 150 of the 193 UN countries have done.
“Some say that recognition is merely symbolic, not changing anything on the ground. But recognition has importance – that Palestinians do have the right to self-determination, national rights and the legal benefits of that, just like Israelis.”
Lady Northover added: “Recognising two states should have happened long ago. My short, little Bill seeks to rectify that.”
Labour’s Lord Dubs, who fled the Nazis on the Kindertransport in 1939, said the UK must work for an “immediate” two-state solution.
Lord Dubs said: “A two-state solution has long been Labour Party policy. It was in our manifesto, it was supported by the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary David Lammy said ‘We’re committed to Palestinian recognition, we hope to work with partners to achieve that when the circumstances are right’.
“It’s that phrase ‘when the circumstances are right’ which has delayed progress up to now and I’d suggest to the Foreign Secretary that the circumstances are right at the present time.”
Labour’s Baroness Elliott of Whitburn Bay said: “The Government needs to move beyond the slogan of a two-state solution, which I know they wholeheartedly believe in, to a situation of actively bringing this about, otherwise they risk not being seen as credible on this issue.”
Conservative peer Baroness Warsi (Yui Mok/PA)
Conservative former Foreign Office minister Baroness Warsi said: “Tragically as we have failed to recognise Palestine, methodically – and I’d argue deliberately – the probability of Palestine existing as a state has been diminished.”
On the opposing side of the argument, Lady Altmann warned Hamas wants to “wipe Israel off the map” and said they spent years preparing the surprise cross-border attack on October 7 2023.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were combatants.
Lady Altmann said if one side does not seek peace then there would be a repeat of “past failures”, adding: “This Bill, if passed, would be a licence for further terrorism I’m afraid.
“A signal that deliberately killing, torturing and murdering Jews and promising to do it again and again and hiding safely in tunnels, under or behind your own civilians, knowingly, cynically inviting retaliation from those you’ve attacked will bring rewards from civilised countries whose emotions you have deliberately manipulated.”
Conservative peer Lord Polak also suggested Hamas share the “same antisemitic philosophies as the Nazis and Haman”.
He said: “They do not merely seek to attack Israelis, they want to eradicate Jews, all Jews.
“And to support the establishment of a Palestinian state at this time would be to reward their actions, it would betray the victims of October 7, it would condone hostage-taking, it would promote antisemitism, and it would declare that Jews’ lives do not matter.
“It would threaten the safety and security of the citizens of Israel and Jews around the world and it will hand a posthumous victory to Hitler, Haman and Hamas.”
Conservative former minister Lord Frost (Jonathan Brady/PA)
Conservative former minister Lord Frost said there is “nothing approximating to a state” for Palestine.
He said: “In these circumstances, what is the point of recognition of Palestine?
“At best it’s an acknowledgement of the concept of a state for a state that doesn’t exist, at worst it’s just a form of international virtue signalling or even a statement to Israel that we will be rewarding in some way the Palestinians for the chaos and violence of October 7.”