It's simply not up to us as British people to decide whether Palestinians or indeed Israelis, should organise themselves this way or that way. It is clearly within our remit to forcefully denounce violence and discrimination and systems of oppression, but what the affected people choose to do is not for us to tell them.

It is for us to produce the economic and political pressure for Israel to submit to making necessary changes in the interest of peace and equality. The exact nature of those changes is no more our business than it was to preside over this region 80 years ago. If the Palestinian people hold a legitimate referendum and decide to pursue a single state, we can cross that bridge when we come to it. We have no business telling them that that should hold a referendum to produce that result.