Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy, who served as foreign secretary until earlier this month, announced that Prime Minister Keir Starmer will make an official statement on the recognition of a Palestinian state later on Sunday.
“Any decision to recognise a Palestinian state, if that were to take place later on today, does not make a Palestinian state happen overnight,” Lammy told Sky News. He suggested that recognition would help keep the prospect of a two-state solution alive and emphasized that associating the Palestinian people with Hamas is mistaken.
In July, amid intense pressure within his governing Labour Party, Prime Minister Keir Starmer stated that the UK would recognise a Palestinian state unless Israel agreed to a ceasefire in Gaza, allowed the UN to deliver aid, and took other steps toward lasting peace.
This anticipated move comes ahead of the UN General Assembly this week, where other nations such as Australia, Canada, and France are also preparing to recognise a Palestinian state.
The UK’s planned recognition follows a recent state visit from US President Donald Trump, who expressed his disapproval of the plan. “I have a disagreement with the prime minister on that score,” Trump said. “It’s one of our few disagreements, actually.”
Critics—including the US and the Israeli government, which has shown no interest in a two-state solution—have condemned the plan, arguing it rewards Hamas and terrorism. However, Starmer has insisted that Hamas will have no role in the future governance of the Palestinian people and that the group must release the Israeli hostages it still holds following the attacks on October 7, 2023.
More than 140 countries have already recognised a Palestinian state, but the decisions by France and Britain hold particular significance as both are members of the Group of Seven (G7) and the UN Security Council.
Historically, these two countries have played a crucial role in Middle East politics over the past century. They were instrumental in carving out the region following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, with the UK becoming the governing power of what was then Palestine.
The UK also authored the 1917 Balfour Declaration, which supported the establishment of a “national home for the Jewish people.” However, the declaration’s second part, which stated that “nothing shall be done, nothing which may prejudice the civil and religious rights” of the Palestinian people, has largely been neglected over the decades.
Lammy, who will represent the UK at the UN this week, noted in July that this promise had not been upheld and called it “a historical injustice which continues to unfold.”
For decades, the UK has supported an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel, insisting that recognition should come as part of a peace plan aiming for a two-state solution.
However, UK officials have grown increasingly concerned that such a solution is becoming nearly impossible—not only due to the devastation in Gaza and the massive displacement of its population amid nearly two years of conflict but also because of Israel’s aggressive expansion of settlements in the West Bank, land Palestinians seek for their future state.
Much of the international community regards Israel’s occupation of the West Bank as illegal.
—
*This story has been sourced from a third-party syndicated feed. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for the dependability, trustworthiness, reliability, or data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete, or remove (without notice) the content at its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever.*
https://www.mid-day.com/news/world-news/article/united-kingdom-set-to-recognise-palestinian-state-despite-opposition-from-us-23595101