As the recognition of the state of Palestine comes into vogue by the West lets not forget much of the rest of the world has done so already. Much of this in response to the appalling daily killings occurring now in Gaza as well as assaults of Palestinians on the West Bank with famine clearly on the horizon as well. This has been long withheld by the British government, and even during the recent talk about it all, the Labour government has been not keen at all going along with this as other European nations are doing so now. Its a key step towards the two state solution yet only happening now as the very existence of Palestinian people is under threat. 

Some of us have of course been here already. It was during the London Olympics of 2012, l hosted the Palestinian Olympic Team with the Palestinian community in London for a reception at City Hall and giving them some recognition that they were not getting at the time. I cottoned onto this quite early on and duly got them this prize in 2012 whilst the Olympics was happening, by hosting this event along with International Arab Charity (IAC). After all that is all they were after, some sort of recognition of the state of Palestine. 

So while the drive for recognition of Palestine grows in Europe, l can say that along with the rest of the world we have given them this for their cause already sometime ago on the 13th anniversary of the event today. I also dare not ask what the fate of the Palestinian athletics in 2012 has been since particularly during the past few years in Gaza and the West Bank.