THIS summer’s violent assault against the Gaza Strip pushed the Palestinian issue to the top of the political agenda like never before.

The latest stage of Israel’s episodic devastation of Gaza — a process Israeli military strategists chillingly refer to as “mowing the lawn” — shocked the world and in doing so woke up millions to the horrors being visited upon the Palestinian people.

As Israel unleashed its full military might against the civilian population of Gaza, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of Britain in protest.

It was magnificent to see so many ordinary people mobilise in opposition to Israel’s occupation and the dispossession, violence and suffering it entails.

The “morally indefensible” position of the Con-Dem coalition even provoked a government resignation and inspired the largest anti-war protests in more than a decade, bringing the Palestinian issue fully into the mainstream of British politics.

There has been a lively divergence of views in Westminster this summer but the one point of agreement is that the only way to break the cycle of violence is to address the root causes of the conflict — namely the illegal occupation and the ongoing denial of Palestinian rights, including the right to statehood.

I’m pleased to announce that an application I submitted with the support of Crispin Blunt MP and Sarah Teather MP for a back-bench business debate on Palestine has been successful.

Next month Parliament will have six hours to debate the future of the two-state solution and will have the opportunity to vote on a motion calling on the government to recognise the state of Palestine.

I believe the government’s abstention on the vote for Palestinian statehood in the UN general assembly in 2012 was an utterly shameful act that placed Britain on the wrong side of history.

Margaret Thatcher was an important ally of South African apartheid long after the tides of world opinion were flowing against her and it seems David Cameron has followed her lead in placing himself on the wrong side of oppression and injustice.

I know I’m not alone when I say that I was proud of Ed Miliband’s principled support of Palestinian statehood at the time.

In the words of Douglas Alexander, “Palestinian statehood is not a gift to be given but a right to be recognised.”

Yet for too long the international community has cruelly refused the Palestinian people this right and by doing so has hindered the realisation of peace and security in the region.

The two-state solution has been Britain’s stated policy aim for decades, but in politics talk often comes cheap.

So far the government’s support for a two-state solution has been in rhetoric only.

Not only is statehood the undeniable right of the Palestinian people but only an independent and sovereign Palestinian state can save any hope of a two-state solution.

We hear a lot of talk in support of a just and lasting peace between Israel and Palestine. On October 13 MPs will have the opportunity to back up their words with action.

Grahame Morris is Labour MP for Easington and chair of Labour Friends of Palestine.