No Doncaster MPs sign cross-party letter calling on PM to recognise Palestine as state
None of Doncaster four MPs have signed a cross-party letter calling on Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to recognise Palestine as a state.
More than 220 MPs have signed the letter organised by South Yorkshire MP and Labour backbencher Sarah Champion, who also sits as the International Development Committee Chair.
They write: "British recognition of Palestine would be particularly powerful given its role as the author of the Balfour Declaration and the former Mandatory Power in Palestine.
"Since 1980 we have backed a two-state solution. Such a recognition would give that position substance as well as living up to a historic responsibility we have to the people under that Mandate."
Earlier this month, nearly 60 Labour MPs called on David Lammy and the Foreign Office to immediately recognise Palestine as a state in a private letter, but this new call shows how dissatisfied many still are with the government's refusal to change its stance on the issue.
None of Doncaster’s four MPs – Ed Miliband (Doncaster North), John Healey (Rawmarsh and Conisbrough), Lee Pitcher (Doncaster East and Isle of Axholme) and Sally Jameson (Doncaster Central) have signed the letter.
The call comes after French President Emmanuel Macron declared that France would recognise a Palestinian state in September at a UN conference.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: "We strongly condemn President Macron's decision to recognise a Palestinian state next to Tel Aviv in the wake of the October 7 massacre. Such a move rewards terror and risks creating another Iranian proxy, just as Gaza became.
"A Palestinian state in these conditions would be a launch pad to annihilate Israel - not to live in peace beside it.
The Foreign Office has maintained it is committed to recognising a Palestinian state but has expressed a willingness to do so only when it will have the "most impact in support of a peace process".
It said: "We continue to provide lifesaving aid to support Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, and to work closely in support of the Palestinian Authority."
The UN Conference will be co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia in New York.