Israeli lobby seeks to block UK parliament vote on Palestine
Press TV
Efforts by the Israeli lobby in the UK and Britain’s Friends of Israel parliamentary groups, have recently gained momentum to block a motion to recognize Palestine as an independent state.
British lawmakers are expected to debate the motion, proposed by Labor MP Grahame Morris, which calls on the UK government to symbolically recognize the state of Palestine.
However, leading figures from Labor Friends of Israel (LFI) have threatened to resign from the opposition party if Labor leader, Ed Miliband, does not stand against the motion.
Rachel Reeves, Ivan Lewis, John Woodcock, Michael McCann and many other prominent figures have warned that they would not take part in the vote.
The motion’s possible approval in the Commons has raised concerns among Zionist lobbies in Britain.
The Zionist pressure group "United Synagogue" has called on all its members to press their constituency representatives to reject the motion or make amendments to it.
The "Israel Advocacy UK" group is also drawing up a petition to make changes to Palestine’s recognition bid.
Meanwhile, Davis Lewin, the Deputy Director and Head of Policy and Research at the Henry Jackson Society (HJS), has hit out at planners of the recognition proposal, describing them as people who openly want to destroy Israel.
A number of pro-Israel lawmakers in the British parliament have also signed an amendment, saying that the recognition of a Palestinian state should be postponed until the “conclusion of [so-called] successful peace negotiations between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority.”
Israel’s Haaretz newspaper also revealed collusion between senior pro-Israeli MPs and some officials of the Israeli regime, aimed at finding ways to avert a vote in favor of Palestine’s recognition.
The vote for the motion on the recognition of Palestine due on Monday is expected to merely serve as a symbolic gesture and will not bind London to act on it.
Political analysts believe that the approval of such a motion in the British parliament can facilitate demands by other countries to recognize Palestine.
Last week, Sweden became the first EU member to declare its intention to formally recognize the state of Palestine.
More than 134 countries around the world currently recognize the state of Palestine.
Palestinians are seeking to create an independent state on the territories of the West Bank, East al-Quds (Jerusalem), and the besieged Gaza Strip and are demanding that Israel withdraw from the occupied Palestinian territories.
Tel Aviv, however, has refused to return to the 1967 borders and is unwilling to discuss the issue of al-Quds.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/10/12/381997/israel-lobby-to-block-uk-palestine-vote/