Wednesday 9 November 2011

Hague warned over UK abstention in Palestinian statehood vote

Britain will face severe consequences in the Middle East when it abstains in a UN vote on whether to recognise the Palestinian territories as an independent state, senior Conservatives have warned.
As the foreign secretary, William Hague, prepares to tell MPs that the UK will abstain in New York if the Palestinians press for a vote on statehood, the Conservative Middle East council warned that it could not support self-determination throughout the Middle East but then deny the same right to the Palestinians.
"The consequences of an abstention would be severe," the council said in a statement.
"We believe that Britain should vote in favour of Palestinian statehood at the UN security council on 11 November.
"As a good friend of Israel and Palestine, the UK has always supported a viable sovereign and secure Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel, and this vote asks no more than that we should vote accordingly."
The statement was signed by Nicholas Soames, the Tory MP and former defence minister who is the grandson of Winston Churchill, and by Lady Morris of Bolton. Soames is the council's president and Morris, its chairman.
The UN security council is considering an application for statehood lodged by the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, in September.
If the Palestinians can muster nine votes on the 15-strong council, a vote will be held. The US will wield its veto if one takes place.
Britain is joining forces with two other EU allies on the security council, France and Portugal, to abstain. It is expected that Germany, the third EU member of the council, will also abstain.
The UK had considered voting in favour of statehood but is planning to abstain because it wants to forge a common front with its EU partners.
Government sources say the EU – the single biggest donor to the Palestinian authority – is playing an increasingly influential role in the Middle East. It is feared this could be put at risk if the EU fails to act collectively.
The formal EU position is to support a Palestinian state after negotiations with Israel based on the 1967 borders with agreed land swaps.
But there is anger among Tories that Britain will lose the goodwill it has built up in the Middle East over its response to the Arab Spring if it fails to support a Palestinian state.
The council said Britain should not forget its history, pointing out that the country ran Palestine between the fall of the Ottoman empire and the run-up to the creation of the state of Israel 1948.
In 1917, Arthur Balfour, a Conservative predecessor of Hague, endorsed the "establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people" in the Balfour Declaration.
The council's statement added: "This is the time for the UK to stand on the right side of history.
"Public opinion is strongly on the side of the Palestinians, as shown by opinion polls showing 71% support for the Palestinian bid to be an independent state. Parliament should make its voice heard rather than standing on the sidelines as a passive spectator."

by taken  from http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/09/hague-warned-abstention-palestinian-statehood-vote

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