Rejected petition For the Welsh Government to diplomatically recognise the state of Palestine.

Whilst this conflict has raged for decades, in the past few weeks, since Israeli forces attacked worshippers in the Al-Aqsa Mosque, we have seen increasing brutality faced by the people of Palestine

The majority of countries around the world recognise the state of Palestine (138 out of 193 UN nations - 71.5%). During this time of great hardship facing the Palestinian people, we the undersigned would like to show our solidarity through our government formally recognising the state of Palestine

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Since 1948, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forced out of their homes, we have seen repeated expansion of Israeli borders beyond the UN Partition Plan.

This has come with increasing brutality, as seen in the past few weeks, when over 200 Palestinians have been killed in the past week (10th-17th May), including 60 children.

In their most recent examination ('A Threshold Crossed', April 27th 2021), the Human Rights Watch found that, in regard to Israeli policy towards the treatment of Palestinians, "...in certain areas...these deprivations are so severe that they amount to the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution".

There is precedent for non-Westminster bodies diplomatically recognising other nations, as in 2015 Cardiff Council recognised the Republic of Somaliland.

During this time of great hardship faced by the Palestinian people, we the undersigned call on our government to express our solidarity by formally recognising the state of Palestine.

Why was this petition rejected?

It’s about something that the Senedd or Welsh Government is not responsible for.

Petitions to the Senedd must call for a specific action that falls within the powers of the Senedd or Welsh Government.

Schedules 7A and 7B of the Government of Wales Act 2006 set out the issues which are ‘restricted’ or ‘reserved’ to the UK Parliament - i.e. areas where only the UK Parliament or Government, not the Senedd or Welsh Government, can act.

The issues raised by the petition relate to international relations, defined as including “relations with territories outside the United Kingdom” by the Act, which is the responsibility of the UK Parliament and is not devolved to Wales.

You may wish to consider petitioning the UK Parliament about this issue instead: https://petition.parliament.uk/

We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards

Rejected petitions are published in the language in which they were submitted

Date submitted 19 May 2021
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