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Jeremy Corbyn: Next Labour government will recognise Palestine as a state
He called it a step 'towards a genuine two-state solution'
June 25, 2018 07:57
He called it a step 'towards a genuine two-state solution'
June 25, 2018 07:57A Labour government would recognise a Palestinian state, Jeremy Corbyn has said as he reiterated the party's stance on the issue.
The Labour leader, who was touring camps housing Syrian and Palestinian refugees just before Prince William arrived in the Middle East for a tour that will include the first official Royal visit to Israel, tweeted "the next Labour government will recognise Palestine as a state as one step towards a genuine two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict".
Today I'll visit the Al-Baqa'a refugee camp which was first created in 1968, where 100,000 Palestinians live.
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) June 23, 2018
The next Labour government will recognise Palestine as a state as one step towards a genuine two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict.https://t.co/eyKgvGCAGo
On Friday, during a visit to the Zaatari camp for Syrian refugees in Jordan, he told reporters: "I think there has to be a recognition of the rights of the Palestinian people to their own state which we as a Labour Party said we would recognise in government as a full state as part of the United Nations."
In 2014, Labour backed a motion calling on the British Government to acknowledge Palestinian statehood.
During his Jordan trip, Mr Corbyn also called Donald Trump's decision to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem a "catastrophic mistake".
He added Labour would recognise Palestine "very early on" in its next government. He also said, when questioned by a reporter, that he would be "happy" to visit Israel at some point.
This is desptie the fact he has previously decline invitations to visit. In 2017, he said he was too busy to visit Yad Vashem and then-party general secretary Iain McNicol went instead.
Isaac Herzog, the then-Israeli Labour Party leader, appealed for Mr Corbyn to visit in 2016. Mr Herzog said he was "appalled and outraged" by "recent examples of anti-Semitism by senior Labour party officials in the UK".
In April, he hit out at Western governments' "silence" over deaths on the Gaza border and said they should consider not selling weapons to Israel that "could be used in violation of international law".
Mr Corbyn has caused concern among British Jews for his perceived inaction in dealing with Labour members who express antisemitic views.
He had a tense meeting with community leaders in April, where Mr Corbyn is said to have shrugged at Jewish leaders' concerns.
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