In a letter to the Foreign Secretary, Labour MP Jayne Kirkham says she recognises what the government has already done but says that there is more that could be done.
“Ultimately, we need to progress on a two-state solution,” she said. “There is an opportunity to advance that cause at the UN conference in June.
“I know the government intends to recognise the state of Palestine at a crucial point during the negotiations towards a two-state solution. Some of our allies are beginning to think that time could be now, before it is too late.
“Would the Foreign Secretary work with France and other allies to recognise the state of Palestine sooner, rather than leave it until it may be too late?”
She says her constituents have written to her in their hundreds expressing their concern at what is happening in Gaza. She said it comes up at every surgery she holds, and she has also met with her constituents in every Palestine Solidarity Campaign lobby of parliament.
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“My constituent James Henderson was killed in Gaza 13.5 months ago while working as security for aid workers for WCK,” she says in the letter. “Over 400 aid workers have been killed and over 200 journalists.
“Will the government do all it possibly can to continually press the Israeli government for justice for their families? Will the Government also do everything it possible can to obtain safe passage for aid into Gaza, the very thing Jim was working on to preserve and which has now ceased to happen.”
She said recognises the steps the government has taken but urges it to take further steps “before the consequences for the people in Gaza become catastrophic and the possibility of a two-state solution recedes into the distance.”