British parliament voted in favour of recognizing the state of Palestine .... Maybe now they'll force Israel into stoping the illegal settlements and make a real offer of peace

You misheard. This does not mean the UK recognizes Palestine. Formally under international law the UK does not recognize Palestine as a state. The UK will only recognize Palestine as a contribution to the establishment of a two-state plan, something that isn't even close to happening.

So what this amounts to is Labour party political muscle convincing (through delicate and complex customs British parliament adheres to) a portion of parliament to pass this motion, with several caveats that ensure Palestine is not formally recognized by the UK, More than HALF of British parliament (Mostly the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats) abstained. This was essentially a Labour and Crossbencher vote.

This post was edited by Caedus on Oct 13 2014 10:20pm

The British are almost wholly irrelevant, what does this actually matter?

It wasn't even the British government that passed this. The Tories and Liberal Democrats abstained as they didn't want to be part of Labour "games" in parliament.