"'I am a 21 year old medical student and I have just returned from 5 weeks in Ramallah in the West Bank. I am feeling oncreasingly helpless and frustrated, as every day the death count of innocent Palestinians grows higher and there seems so little we can do about it and our Government will not act decisively.'
"Ms Thomas is clearly a brave woman. She came back impassioned, disillusioned and angry. That anger and disillusionment was not just about the conflict she had witnessed; it was about her frustration that those of us in this House were not giving her a voice. Today I want to give her a voice, in the same way that I believe we must give Palestinians a voice."
Robert Jenrick, Conservative, opposes the motion but cites public opinion:
"I am not alone in having received hundreds of e-mails and letters urging me to support this motion. I appreciate the urge to respond to the horrors of the summer in Gaza and the continued, impossibly frustrating impasse."
Jonathan Ashworth, Labour, on the will of the people:
"There are times when this House has to send a message -- when this House has to speak. I believe that the will of the British people is now to support Palestinian statehood. Many have questioned what is the practical purpose of supporting this motion; well, I ask what is the practical purpose of opposing it. If we oppose the motion, this House will be sending a message that we endorse the status quo, and I do not believe that that is the will of the British people."
Sir Edward Leigh, Conservative, says this is not just the left, it's all who care about suffering. He cites Bethlehem as an inspiration and calls on the Israelis to open their hearts:
"My other Damascus moment came when I was standing at the Bethlehem checkpoint and saw the appalling humiliation heaped on Palestinian people. I spoke to a nurse at a hospital I visited as part of a charity I ran. She lived in Bethlehem, just a few miles from Jerusalem. It was just a short walk away, but she was never able to go to the city without enormous difficulties. Bethlehem, of all places, should be a beacon of hope.
"I know we will be accused of making a gesture today and I understand the Government's position, but they should listen to the voice of this House. Virtually everybody who has spoken -- not just lefties waving placards in Trafalgar square, but virtually every Conservative MP -- has said that now is the time to recognise the justice of the Palestinians' case.
"I am not speaking in anti-Israeli terms -- I am proud to be a friend of that state -- but they have to open their hearts. They have to start relaxing controls in and out of Gaza."
Mark Durkan, Social Democratic and Labour Party, emphasizes public frustration at Israeli intransigence:
"Where does the international community stand when human rights are sacrificed again and again, and what is its will when international law is violated again and again? Of course, we hear from the Dispatch Box and elsewhere that the Israeli Government are told not to be disproportionate and warned against occupations, and yet the situation continues.
"People are increasingly fed up with this screensaver politics, where shapes are thrown, images projected and impressions generated, but nothing real goes on in relation to the substantive issue. People in our constituencies find it frustrating, but the people for whom it must be most frustrating are those moderate people in the middle east, including those in Israel who know that their security will never come from drenching people in Gaza with bombs, and those in Palestine who know that their peace, rights and liberation will not come through lobbing rockets into Israel."
The importance of the vote, internationally. A Conservative, Crispin Blunt, says he's never been asked for so many international interviews:
"As the chief cheerleader of 'Get real, United Kingdom' about our place in the world, I say to my right hon. Friend the Member for Hitchin and Harpenden (Mr Lilley), and perhaps to my hon. Friend the Member for Newark (Robert Jenrick) and others who have questioned the importance of this debate, that having had media bids from France, Turkey, al-Jazeera, Channel 4 and the BBC World Service in connection with this evening -- unknown for me -- I must say to the House that people are listening to the debate, and in the Occupied Palestinian Territories they will be listening very attentively because of our history.
"I am immensely proud to have my name on tonight's motion after that of the hon. Member for Easington (Grahame M. Morris), and I also support the amendment."
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