‘Enough was enough’: Why France is now taking a stand on Palestinian statehood
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Voices: Why has it been so difficult for Britain to recognise the state of Palestine?
Keir Starmer’s decision to recognise the state of Palestine – unless, that is, Israel agrees to a Gaza ceasefire – begs a simple question. For decades, a two-state solution that would see a Palestinian homeland established in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem has been the policy of successive UK governments. Britain has played a pivotal role in the pre-history of the present Israeli-Palestinian conflict, starting with the 1917 Balfour Declaration. Today, the number of countries declaring formal recognition stands at 147 – more than a decade after Sweden became the first country to formally acknowledge Palestinian sovereignty. But in 1967, when the six-day war broke out with its neighbours, Israel seized the former territory from Egypt and the latter two from Jordan. The subsequent UN Resolution 242 called for Israel to withdraw in return for recognition by Arab states – but neither the pullback nor the recognition ever came to pass. All negotiations that have taken place since 1993, and between Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas in 2000, have never been implemented.
But, rather, how today’s announcement, following an emergency meeting of the cabinet, that the British government – exasperated by the ongoing situation in Gaza and the dwindling prospects of a two-state solution with Israel – will formally recognise Palestine in September, could have been quite so long in the making.
Britain has played a pivotal role in the pre-history of the present Israeli-Palestinian conflict, starting with the 1917 Balfour Declaration. The then British foreign secretary Arthur Balfour’s letter to Lord Rothschild promising support for a “national home for the Jewish people” set our seal on a future Israeli state.
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While many Palestinians understandably see the declaration as the root of all their travails, it was intended as a classic diplomatic fudge. It did not actually specify that it would mean a Jewish state in what was then still a division of the Ottoman empire, but which would soon be under British control following General Allenby’s victory over the Turks in the First World War.
Moreover, Balfour promised that “nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine” – which is a quaint way of describing the existing, and then overwhelmingly Arab, population of Palestine. Nor did it say how this protection would be achieved.
But none of this alters the fact that, more than a century later, this proviso is the Balfour Declaration’s great unfinished business.
Fast forward to May 1948. The declaration of an independent state of Israel by its first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, following the hasty abandonment of territory mandated to British control in 1920 by the League of Nations, and coupled with the Israeli army’s successful defence against immediate invasion by five neighbouring Arab states, left the new nation in control of 78 per cent of what had once been British-administered Mandatory Palestine.
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The Balfour Declaration – along with the United Nations’ decision to divide the territory into two states, one Arab and one Jewish – would prove pivotal in creating a conflict that still scars the Middle East. But it is subsequent events that explain why formal recognition of an independent, sovereign state of Palestine has still not happened.
For more than half a century, Western governments – Britain included – have said that there should be a Palestinian state that encompasses Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. But in 1967, when the six-day war broke out with its neighbours, Israel seized the former territory from Egypt and the latter two from Jordan. The subsequent UN Resolution 242 called for Israel to withdraw in return for recognition by Arab states – but neither the pullback nor the recognition ever came to pass.
At that point, Palestinians still hankered after sovereignty over the whole of historic “Palestine” – including what had already been the state of Israel for almost 20 years, and from which more than 700,000 Palestinians had been forced to flee, in a displacement and dispossession known as the Nakba, meaning “catastrophe” in Arabic.
Israel, far from withdrawing from the territorial gains made during conflicts, has established settlements, meaning that at least 620,000 Israelis now live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Several of the most extreme members of the Netanyahu government are eager to resettle Gaza in the same way.
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In 1988, there was a dramatic change of thinking within the then Palestinian leadership – its so-called “historic compromise”. Led by Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian Liberation Organisation would confine its aspiration to sovereignty over the territories occupied in 1967. All negotiations that have taken place since then – at Oslo in 1993, at Camp David in 2000, and between Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas as part of a secret realignment plan that was never implemented – have envisaged, to some degree, a two-state solution, with Israel and Palestine living side by side.
Shortly after Arafat’s historic compromise, 78 countries recognised the new Palestinian state. Today, the number declaring formal recognition stands at 147.
Earlier this month – more than a decade after Sweden became the first EU country to formally acknowledge Palestinian sovereignty, a move followed last year by Ireland, Spain and Norway – the French president Emmanuel Macron became the first leader of a G7 country to promise he will seek to do the same at the UN General Assembly in September.
As critics of recognition frequently, and correctly, point out, acknowledging a state of Palestine that includes the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem is essentially notional, since, in the absence of a successful peace process, there is no state to recognise.
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Though the Palestinian Authority was granted observer status at the United Nations in 2012, along similar lines to that afforded to the Vatican, it has no voting rights. Moreover, the United States has consistently used its veto to block Palestine’s full UN membership. As recently as April, the UK abstained in a Security Council resolution vote on the recommendation regarding the admission of Palestine into the UN.
Nevertheless, France’s move – which paved the way for today’s announcement of a road map of sorts by Keir Starmer, after conversations with Macron and the German chancellor Friedrich Merz – is not an empty one. It registered growing outrage at the carnage and the scale of the famine perpetrated by Israel in Gaza in retaliation for brutal attacks by Hamas terrorists on 7 October 2023, which killed 1,200 Israelis and saw the taking of 251 hostages. The French president is said to have been especially affected by his conversations with Palestinian survivors when he visited Egypt in April.
France’s joining with Saudi Arabia in sponsoring the UN summit currently underway in New York to revive talks on a two-state solution sends a clear political message to Israel’s leadership. It is also a reminder that, since 2002, Riyadh has promised to recognise Israel – as Egypt and Jordan have already done – but only if it agrees to a return to pre-1967 borders.
Will Britain’s belated recognition of a state of Palestine make any difference? It will certainly lend weight and credence to those hoping to change minds in Washington. It would also go some way to acknowledging the UK’s historic role and duty in the region. And we can only hope that it might help solve a conflict in which the destruction, killing and starvation in Gaza is but the latest – and direst – consequence.
Live updates: Starmer says UK to recognize Palestinian state unless Israel meets certain conditions
France will begin air-dropping aid into Gaza in the “coming days,’ the French foreign ministry has said. The French airdrops will be conducted “to meet the most essential and urgent needs of the Gazan civilian population,” the foreign ministry said. France is also working to deliver aid via land, though this would require Israel to open more border crossings.
Meanwhile, France will begin air-dropping aid into Gaza in the “coming days,” the French foreign ministry has said.
The French airdrops will be conducted “to meet the most essential and urgent needs of the Gazan civilian population, which is facing a humanitarian crisis of unprecedented proportions,” the foreign ministry said, adding that it will take “the utmost precautions” to ensure the safety of Gazans when the operations take place.
France is also working to deliver aid via land, the foreign ministry said, though this would require Israel to open more border crossings, something it has rejected in the past.
Aid deliveries on land are “by far the most effective solution for enabling the massive and unhindered delivery of humanitarian supplies that the population desperately needs,” the French foreign ministry said.
It called on Israel “to open all crossing points and for immediate, massive and unhindered access for humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip by land.”
Last year, France, working with Jordan, airdropped food and hygiene kits into the Gaza Strip. In a statement at the time, the French foreign ministry said that this airdrop “reflected France’s total commitment to helping Gaza’s civilian population.”
We reported earlier on how Spain and Germany announced yesterday they would be arranging airdrops into the enclave with the help of Jordan.
July 28, 2025 – Gaza news updates
Jordan and the United Arab Emirates carried out their first airdrops into Gaza over the weekend. Many say having no choice but to chase after aid is an insult to their dignity. One man said he managed to collect some flour, but that it would not be enough to feed his family of eight. Others were grateful to receive food, but said the method of airdroping aid only risked more violence.“We’d rather die of hunger with dignity than die in humiliation and filth,” said Ahmad Faiz Fayyad.
In the central Gazan town of Al-Zawayda, scores of Palestinians rushed to collect boxes of aid that were dropped from the sky on Monday.
For many, the food in these boxes will be the only meal they eat today. But many say that having no choice but to chase after airdropped aid is an insult to their dignity.
“This aid is disgraceful. We are not dogs to be made to run after aid,” Ahmad Faiz Fayyad told CNN. “We’d rather die of hunger with dignity than die in humiliation and filth.”
Jordan and the United Arab Emirates carried out their first airdrops into Gaza over the weekend, attempting to combat starvation in the enclave caused by Israel’s blockade.
“The people doing this have no shame,” said Fayyad. “We want the aid to come in by land and be distributed through institutions, so that people can receive it with dignity and honor.”
Fayyad said he did not collect any aid and did not want to, while dozens of others scrambled to reach the UAE Red Crescent-marked boxes. As a crowd of people picked up the boxes from the ground, gunshots rang out, causing many to panic and flee, CNN video showed.
One man said he managed to collect some flour, but that it would not be enough to feed his family of eight. Another elderly woman said she hadn’t managed to reach the food because she was almost crushed in the crowd.
Others were grateful to receive food, but said the method of airdropping aid only risked more violence.
“I took this box, thank God. It will help ease the hunger we’re facing. Praise be to God and thank you to everyone who helped us,” Mohammad Al-Bara’a told CNN.
“This is enough for us, but you can see and hear what’s happening—people are fighting to the death over aid. There are no words to describe what you’re seeing.”
The United Nations has warned that airdropping aid into Gaza is “very, very expensive” and often dangerous.
“Why use airdrops when you can drive hundreds of trucks through the borders,” Juliette Touma, a spokesperson for the main UN agency for Palestinian refugees, told CNN last week. “It’s much easier, more effective, faster, cheaper and safer.”
UK will recognise Palestinian state in September unless Israel takes steps towards peace
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer says the UK will recognise a Palestinian state in September. He says Israel must take “substantive steps” towards a two-state solution and an end to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Starmer’s move would make the two European allies the first G7 nations to do so. Israel promptly said it “rejects” the UK move, arguing it “constitutes a reward for Hamas and harms efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza” More than 140 countries already recognise the state of Palestine, but none of them carry the weight of Britain and France, who are nuclear-armed allies of Israel with permanent seats on the UN Security Council. The UK move follows French President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement last week that Paris would recognise Palestinian state during the UN General Assembly meeting on September 23. It was included in Labour’s election-winning manifesto last year, given Britain’s pivotal role in Israel’s creation through the 1917 Balfour Declaration. More than 220 British lawmakers from nine parties have been demanding action.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced Tuesday the UK will formally recognise the state of Palestine in September unless Israel takes various “substantive steps”, including agreeing to a ceasefire in Gaza.
The potentially landmark move, part of Starmer’s plan for a “lasting peace”, came after the British leader recalled his cabinet from recess for urgent talks on the worsening situation in the besieged territory.
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Starmer’s move, paired with Paris also saying it will recognise a Palestinian state in September, would make the two European allies the first G7 nations to do so.
Read more’Enough was enough’: Why France is now taking a stand on Palestinian statehood
In a televised Downing Street address immediately after the cabinet meeting, Starmer said the UK will recognise a Palestinian state if Israel has not taken the steps demanded by the time the UN General Assembly is held in September.
It must “end the appalling situation in Gaza, agree to a ceasefire and commit to a long-term, sustainable peace, reviving the prospect” of a two-state solution, he added.
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“I’ve always said we will recognise a Palestinian state as a contribution to a proper peace process, at the moment of maximum impact for the two-state solution,” Starmer said.
“With that solution now under threat, this is the moment to act.”
The UK leader also detailed several demands for the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which is holding Israeli hostages seized in its attacks on October 7, 2023.
“They must immediately release all of the hostages, sign up to a ceasefire, disarm and accept that they will play no part in the government of Gaza,” he said.
‘Hand of history’
Israel promptly said it “rejects” the UK move, arguing it “constitutes a reward for Hamas and harms efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza”.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that Starmer had rewarded “Hamas monstrous terrorism and punishes its victims”.
“A jihadist state on Israel’s border today will threaten Britain tomorrow”, Netanyahu added.
Starmer had spoken to Netanyahu before the announcement, telling him “the situation in Gaza was intolerable”, a Downing Street spokeswoman said.
“He urged the prime minister to take immediate action to lift all restrictions on aid access,” she added in a readout of the call.
Starmer also talked to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who “welcomed” the recognition announcement, the spokeswoman noted.
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The UK move follows French President Emmanuel Macron announcing last week that Paris would recognise a Palestinian state during the UN General Assembly meeting on September 23.
Although more than 140 countries already recognise the state of Palestine, none of them carry the weight of Britain and France, who are nuclear-armed allies of Israel with permanent seats on the UN Security Council.
On Tuesday, France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot welcomed London joining “the momentum created by France” to “stop the endless cycle of violence”.
Macron’s announcement drew a strong rebuke from both Israel and fellow G7 member the United States.
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Starmer said Tuesday his government “will make an assessment in September on how far the parties have met” the demands.
But he insisted: “No one should have a veto over our decision.”
Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy, attending a UN conference in New York led by France and Saudi Arabia to promote the two-state solution, echoed the sentiment.
Lammy said it was “with the hand of history on our shoulders” that London planned to recognise Palestinian statehood, given Britain’s pivotal role in Israel’s creation through the 1917 Balfour Declaration.
‘Suffering’
Starmer has been under growing domestic and international pressure to formally recognise a Palestinian state.
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Macron publicly pressed for joint recognition of Palestine during his UK state visit this month, while an increasing number of MPs in Starmer’s ruling Labour party have been demanding action.
More than 220 British lawmakers from nine parties including Labour published a letter last Friday urging him to take the step.
It was included in Labour’s election-winning manifesto last year, as part of “a two-state solution with a safe and secure Israel alongside a viable and sovereign Palestinian state”.
But the pressure has risen as the humanitarian situation in Gaza has dramatically worsened.
“The Palestinian people have endured terrible suffering,” Starmer said in his TV address, adding it “must end”.
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His office said the UK had dropped its first aid, including “lifesaving supplies”, by air Tuesday into Gaza, with the help of Jordan.
The UK leader thanked its king, Abdullah II, in a call.
“However, they agreed that this could not be a substitute for truck deliveries by land, which are the only way to deliver the level of food and other aid urgently needed,” Starmer’s spokeswoman said.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP and Reuters)
‘Worst-case scenario of famine’ under way in Gaza, say UN-backed experts
The UN’s World Food Programme says mass starvation in the Palestinian enclave is reminiscent of the famines in Ethiopia and Biafra in the 20th century. The alert, still short of a formal famine declaration, follows an outcry over images of emaciated children in Gaza and reports of dozens of hunger-related deaths after nearly 22 months of war. Israel over the weekend announced measures, including daily humanitarian pauses in fighting in parts of Gaza and airdrops. The United Nations and Palestinians on the ground say little has changed, and desperate crowds continue to overwhelm and unload delivery trucks before they can reach their destinations. The report is based on available information through July 25 and says the crisis has reached “an alarming and deadly turning point” It says data indicate that famine thresholds have been reached for food consumption in most of Gaza – at its lowest level since the war began – and for acute malnutrition in Gaza City. One in three people in Gaza is going without food for days at a time, according to the World Food Program.
The alert, still short of a formal famine declaration, follows an outcry over images of emaciated children in Gaza and reports of dozens of hunger-related deaths after nearly 22 months of war. On Tuesday the UN’s World Food Programme said the mass starvation in the Palestinian enclave was reminiscent of the famines in Ethiopia and Biafra in the 20th century.
“This is unlike anything we have seen in this century. It reminds us of previous disasters in Ethiopia or Biafra in the past century,” WFP emergency director Ross Smith told reporters in Geneva, speaking from Rome, insisting that “we need urgent action now”.
The international pressure led Israel over the weekend to announce measures, including daily humanitarian pauses in fighting in parts of Gaza and airdrops. The United Nations and Palestinians on the ground say little has changed, and desperate crowds continue to overwhelm and unload delivery trucks before they can reach their destinations.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, said Gaza has teetered on the brink of famine for two years, but recent developments have “dramatically worsened” the situation, including “increasingly stringent blockades” by Israel.
Read moreTimeline: The state of Palestine’s long road to recognition
A formal famine declaration, which is rare, requires the kind of data that the lack of access to Gaza and mobility within has largely denied. The IPC has only declared famine a few times – in Somalia in 2011, South Sudan in 2017 and 2020, and parts of Sudan’s western Darfur region last year.
But independent experts say they don’t need a formal declaration to know what they’re seeing in Gaza.
“Just as a family physician can often diagnose a patient she’s familiar with based on visible symptoms without having to send samples to the lab and wait for results, so too we can interpret Gaza’s symptoms. This is famine,” Alex de Waal, author of “Mass Starvation: The History and Future of Famine” and executive director of the World Peace Foundation, told The Associated Press.
An area is classified as in famine when all three of the following conditions are confirmed:
At least 20% of households have an extreme lack of food, or are essentially starving. At least 30% of children six months to 5 years old suffer from acute malnutrition or wasting, meaning they’re too thin for their height. And at least two people or four children under 5 per 10,000 are dying daily due to starvation or the interaction of malnutrition and disease.
The report is based on available information through July 25 and says the crisis has reached “an alarming and deadly turning point.” It says data indicate that famine thresholds have been reached for food consumption in most of Gaza – at its lowest level since the war began – and for acute malnutrition in Gaza City. The report says nearly 17 out of every 100 children under the age of 5 in Gaza City are acutely malnourished.
Gaza: ‘It’s an engineered starvation campaign against civilians, women and children’ (Oxfam) To display this content from YouTube, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement. Accept Manage my choices One of your browser extensions seems to be blocking the video player from loading. To watch this content, you may need to disable it on this site. Try again FRANCE 24 © 2025 08:50
Mounting evidence shows “widespread starvation”. Essential health and other services have collapsed. One in three people in Gaza is going without food for days at a time, according to the World Food Program. Hospitals report a rapid increase in hunger-related deaths in children under 5. Gaza’s population of over 2 million has been squeezed into increasingly tiny areas of the devastated territory.
The IPC’s latest analysis in May warned that Gaza will likely fall into famine if Israel doesn’t lift its blockade and stop its military campaign. Its new alert calls for immediate and large-scale action and warns: “Failure to act now will result in widespread death in much of the Strip.”
Israel has restricted aid to varying degrees throughout the war. In March, it cut off the entry of all goods, including fuel, food and medicine, to pressure Hamas to free hostages.
Israel eased those restrictions in May but also pushed ahead with a new US-backed aid delivery system that has been wracked by chaos and violence. The traditional, UN-led aid providers say deliveries have been hampered by Israeli military restrictions and incidents of looting, while criminals and hungry crowds swarm entering convoys.
While Israel says there’s no limit on how many aid trucks can enter Gaza, UN agencies and aid groups say even the latest humanitarian measures are not enough to counter the worsening starvation. In a statement Monday, Doctors Without Borders called the new airdrops ineffective and dangerous, saying they deliver less aid than trucks.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said no one is starving in Gaza and that Israel has supplied enough aid throughout the war, “otherwise, there would be no Gazans”. Israel’s military on Monday criticised what it calls “false claims of deliberate starvation in Gaza”.
Israel’s closest ally now appears to disagree. “Those children look very hungry,” President Donald Trump said Monday of the images from Gaza in recent days.
(FRANCE 24 with AP and AFP)