A debate in UK Parliament to recognize a Palestinian state was due to take place on Friday, but was thankfully postponed due to a schedule delay that caused the sitting House of Commons to run out of time. Had this second reading of the bill passed, it would have taken Britain even closer to unilaterally recognizing a Palestinian state, even before a peace negotiation is reached between Israel and the Palestinians. The bill will now be debated in January, according to sources. If passed, it will then need the approval of a third reading before being ratified by the House of Lords and becoming law by ‘royal assent’.
This delay might be a temporary relief, but we must pray that it will be thrown out of Parliament altogether.
To read more information about the flaws of a so-called ‘two-state solution’, please see CUFI’s article ‘Two-state solution or Delusion?.
The bill was tabled by Shockat Adam, Independent MP for Leicester South, who was one of five pro-Palestinian MPs that won July’s election on a predominantly Gaza ticket. Meanwhile, the Labour Party’s manifesto claimed that “Palestinian statehood is the inalienable right of the Palestinian people.”
It has been co-sponsored by: Siân Berry MP, Ian Byrne MP, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Stephen Gethins MP, Adnan Hussain MP, Kim Johnson MP, Ayoub Khan MP, Iqbal Mohamed MP, Brendan O’Hara MP and Liz Saville-Roberts MP.
As well as the illegitimacy of recognising a state that simply doesn’t exist, controlled by illegitimate rulers that have declared terror on its neighbours, the wording of the Parliamentary bill is also based on an anti-Israel perspective. The bill has a malicious foundation – it isn’t written with respect to Israel’s sovereignty or its actions. For example, it “calls on the Government to recognise the urgency of Palestinian Statehood given the atrocities being committed in Gaza and the Israeli operations in the West Bank.”
It also sweepingly calls on the Government to approve “all UN resolutions” relating to Palestinian self-determination. This is unwise, considering many of these resolutions are fundamentally biased against Israel and delegitimises Israel’s rights to the Land and the Jewish holy sites, for example.
The bill also misappropriates the Balfour Declaration. The Balfour Declaration of 1917 gave support for a Jewish state in their historic homeland. This was just prior to Britain taking control of Jerusalem, which had been under Ottoman occupation. The Balfour Declaration did ask for guarantees that a Jewish national home would not be at the detriment to the “civil and religious rights” of “non-Jews” living there, but it never called for an Arab state (although an Arab state was indeed created in the form of Jordan). And a “Palestinian state” wasn’t even an applicable term as the Mandate of Palestine consisted of both “Palestinian Jews” and “Palestinian Arabs”. Instead, the eventual State of Israel actually honoured the sentiment of the Balfour Declaration by guaranteeing the rights of Christians, Muslims, and other non-Jewish minorities in the country.
The Bible warns against dividing the land that was promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob stating (Joel 3:1-2, Zechariah 12:3) that nations will be judged for doing so. This is a warning that Britain should heed.
As Christians, it is not a contradiction to desire peace between Israel and the Palestinian people and yet believe that a Palestinian state carved out of the Land of Israel is not part of the will of God. Remember, standing with Israel is not a political issue, it is a Bible issue and as Christians we should pray for the peace of Jerusalem and place God’s sovereignty above any other man-made resolution. Regardless of what political leaders might conclude, God will have the final say.
“’I will plant them in their land, And no longer shall they be pulled up From the land I have given them,’ Says the Lord your God.” Amos 9:15
