REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, LONDON - Sayeeda Warsi, a lawmaker from Conservative party said she hoped the parliamentary would pass the motion on whether the government should recognize Palestine as a state. The British parliamentary motion is expected to come to a vote around 2100 GMT.

Warsi, a prominent Muslim woman in the government quited her ministerial post in August after accusing the government of taking a "morally indefensible" approach to the conflict between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza. 

"There is a lack of political will and our moral compass is missing," the former Foreign Office minister said of government policies towards Israel and the Palestinian Territories.

"There are no negotiations, there is no show in town. Somehow we have to breathe new life into these negotiations, and one of the ways we can do that is by recognizing the state of Palestine," she told The Observer newspaper on Sunday.

The UN General Assembly approved the de facto recognition of Palestine as a state in 2012 but the United States, the European Union and most EU countries, including Britain, have yet to throw their weight behind unilateral independence moves.

The Palestinians want an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza, with its capital in East Jerusalem.

The latest round of US-backed peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians collapsed earlier this year and there is no sign the talks could be revived any time some. Western diplomats in Jerusalem question in private whether the so-called two state solution is still viable, given extensive Israeli settlement building on occupied lands.

Ikuti Whatsapp Channel Republika