Welcoming the decision by the UN General Assembly to give ‘non-member state’ status to Palestine within the UN Roger said “The overwhelming support for recognising a Palestinian state by the General Assembly is to be very much welcomed. Although this vote will not change anything on the ground in the Middle East it is symbolic because when the UN took its historic decision to create the State of Israel it also proposed that a separate Palestinian state should be established. This was originally rejected by the Palestinians and other Arab countries but the vote, in response to the call by Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian authority, re-emphasises the desire of the world community including the Palestinian and Arab states to seek a permanent two-state solution.”

This article appeared in the January edition of Roger's newsletter 'Postcard from Parliament'