Palestine Statehood (Recognition) Bill [HL]

Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle Excerpts

2nd reading
Friday 14th March 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (GP)]

My Lords, yesterday your Lordships’ House was debating the UK’s global position. The noble Lord, Lord Howell of Guildford, who called the debate, spoke about the need to work with the neo-non-aligned nations, the majority of the world’s states and people, who wish neither to cling to the coattails of the chaotic court of President Trump and answer to his whims nor to fall into the strangling gasp of the autocracies of Presidents Putin and Xi. These are states that wish to continue to uphold human rights and the rule of law, the norms hard won by campaigners and activists over past decades.

The question yesterday was essentially: what can the UK do as a middle-ranked power? Where should we position ourselves? Today we have the chance, thanks to the noble Baroness, Lady Northover, to offer a direct, important, practical course of action: the recognition of the state of Palestine. As many noble Lords have noted, this aligns with the Labour Party manifesto from the recent election and with a majority of those neo-non-aligned states, 146 in total, which already recognise the state of Palestine. We are the laggards here and, as the noble Lord, Lord Dubs, pointed out, we do not have to wait for this Bill to go through all our parliamentary procedures. I join the noble Lord’s call for the Government to immediately recognise the state of Palestine.

We have had a powerful and important debate and I do not intend to go over the ground that has already been extensively covered. I agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Warsi, that the need for the Palestinian people to have state recognition has never been so acute. I also agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Morris of Bolton, that the recognition of the Palestinian state should be the first step, not the last, particularly with the looming gangsterish threats of the court in Washington which have suggested the reverse of self-determination, seemingly casually suggesting that the Palestinian people should be cleared out of Gaza.

As many noble Lords have indicated, recognition does not show support for any group or organisation within Palestine. It is a recognition of the need of the Palestinian people for a Palestinian state. Who might that be for? A Human Rights Watch report from January this year, “Five Babies in One Incubator”: Violations of Pregnant Women’s Rights Amid Israel’s Assault on Gaza, tells the story of RM, a 31 year-old who was two months pregnant on 7 October 2023. She almost starved through her pregnancy, could not get adequate perinatal care and, after enduring a difficult labour, was forced to leave hospital after four hours and beg for a lift home. She and her family were then forced to evacuate their home and, at last report, were living in a tent, the newborn baby suffering from diarrhoea.

State recognition of course will not meet the medical needs of RM and her baby, but, as the noble Baroness, Lady Morris, said, it would offer a gesture of hope. It would be something we could and should do.