[JURIST] The British parliament next week will vote on whether the government should recognize the state of Palestine following its return from recess next Monday. Though the move is unlikely to influence official policy [Reuters report], it would result in increased attention towards the issue and could be favored by lawmakers should they decide that it would help in establishing peace between Palestinian territories and Israel. The debate, which will be held next Monday in the lower House of Parliament [official website], will present arguments [Haaretz report] for why the British government should recognize both the state of Palestine and the state of Israel, and will then be followed by a vote on the motion. If the motion does pass, it will be largely symbolic and will not require the government to shift its stance on the matter. Although the UN General Assembly in 2012 upgraded [JURIST report] Palestine’s UN status to non-member observer state, many European countries have failed to recognize it as such.

In recent months attacks between Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory have led to the deaths of hundreds of civilians, forcing the UN and the international community to take steps to help resolve the conflict. In September an independent UN rights expert stated [JURIST report] that there has not been a single child in the Gaza Strip area not affected by the ongoing conflict. Earlier that month Human Rights Watch [advocacy website] accused [JURIST report] the Israeli military of committing war crimes over the summer by attacking schools where hundreds of displaced Palestinians sought shelter. The three attacks, which took place on July 24, July 30 and August 3, killed 45 people, including 17 children. In August the UN Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967 [official website] formally requested access [JURIST report] to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory to gather first-hand information into the human rights situation in Gaza. Earlier that month the UN Human Rights Council [official website] appointed three experts [JURIST report] to an international commission of inquiry to investigate alleged international humanitarian and human rights law violations committed by both Israelis and Palestinians during the recent conflict in the Gaza Strip.