Birmingham MP Richard Burden has led 160 MPs in condemning Israel's failure to let the Palestinians form their own state.

Mr Burden (Lab Northfield) is chairman of the Britain-Palestine All Party Parliamentary Group of backbenchers sympathetic to the Palestinian cause.

He has gathered signatures from MPs for an official House of Commons motion which calls for "a viable, independent Palestinian state". He said: "The fact that over 150 MPs from all political parties have signed this motion shows just how much breadth of concern there is on this issue."

One in four MPs backed his call for Israel to withdraw from land captured from Egypt and Jordan in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

This includes the Gaza Strip, which Israel has already begun to withdraw from, and the West Bank.

The land is expected to become an independent Palestinian state if Israel withdraws. At the moment, the Palestinians have some autonomy and their own Palestinian authority.

The motion also criticises Israel's construction of a security wall separating the country from the West Bank.

Sections of the wall are built in the West Bank rather than Israel, and critics say this amounts to Israel annexing Palestinian land.

The United Nations has passed resolutions calling for Israel to abandon the territories, and for neighbouring states to recognise Israel's right to exist. Mr Burden said: "This calls for the creation of a fair and just settlement in the Middle East with the establishment of a viable and independent Palestinian state."