In recognising Palestine, Britain and France won’t advance peace
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Politics latest: Starmer accused of ‘appeasement’ by Netanyahu over Palestine state recognition
Netanyahu ‘seems to have completely lost it’ after Starmer’s Palestine announcement, says Thornberry. Labour MP and chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Dame Emily Thornberry, described the government’s decision to recognise Palestine as a state as “great news” She went on: “It has to be the beginning of Britain saying we’re back, we’re not going to look away any more because it’s too hard. We’re actually going to get involved” The Israeli leadership, she argued, “just wants to continue with the war”, while “82% of the Israeli people want peace”, so “we have a historic duty” to take this step.
We’ve just been speaking to Labour MP and chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Dame Emily Thornberry, and she described the government’s decision to recognise Palestine as a state (if Israel fails to meet certain conditions) as “great news”.
“It’s been a long time coming, and it is a major change in British foreign policy, but it is the right thing to do, and I think it’s going to have an impact,” she told Sky’s Wilfred Frost.
It’s needed now because Israel’s far-right government is “trying to annex the very land that will be needed for a Palestinian state”, so the process must happen “whilst there’s still a Palestinian state left to recognise”.
She went on: “It has to be the beginning of Britain saying we’re back, we’re not going to look away any more because it’s too hard. We’re actually going to get involved.”
The Israeli leadership, she argued, “just wants to continue with the war”, while “82% of the Israeli people want peace”, so “we have a historic duty” to take this step.
Thornberry also pushed back on the idea that the government has done this because of a threat from Jeremy Corbyn’s new party, saying not only is it “the right thing to do now”, but it was also in the Labour manifesto, and parliament voted in favour of it in 2014.
She did concede that there has been “campaigning” for this move, but insisted it is being down because “it’s urgent” and “the prime minister has listened”.
On the assertions some are making that this is a reward for the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023, Thornberry said: “Hamas has no future in Gaza, so nobody’s rewarding Hamas. Hamas is off. Hamas is out. There is no place for Hamas anymore.”
And of Hamas leaving Gaza not being made a condition for recognition of Palestine, she said: “If you have an inalienable right to a state, which is what the Labour Party manifesto says, and I agree with that – you can’t put conditions on a right, can you?”
Asked about the Israeli reaction, she said: “What happened overnight is Netanyahu seems to have completely lost it and just started, you know, sending, you know, all sorts of insults over to the British.
“It clearly hurts that we have decided that we’re going to recognise Palestine because it’s a threat, because what he wants to do, as far as I can see, is continue some sort of perpetual war with his neighbours, and remain in power as a result of that, but never be thinking further than the next week.
“If we care about the future of Israeli children or Palestinian children, we have to find peace. It’s the only way forward, and we have a duty to be involved in that.”
UK Rejects Israeli Criticism Over Palestinian State Recognition Plans
Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s ultimatum prompted an immediate rebuke from Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu. U.S. President Donald Trump also said he did not think Hamas “should be rewarded’ with recognition of Palestinian independence. British Transport Minister Heidi Alexander said: “This is not a reward for Hamas’’ Starmer’S move “will isolate Israel more and more, but it won’t change anything on the ground,” said Azriel Bermant, a senior researcher at the Institute of International Relations Prague. Britain now hosts a Palestinian mission in London, which could be upgraded to an embassy, and Britain could eventually open an embassy in the West Bank, an official said. The most immediate impact of Britain recognising a Palestinian state may be an upgrading of diplomatic relations.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s ultimatum, setting a September deadline, prompted an immediate rebuke from Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu, who said it rewarded Hamas and punished the victims of the fighters’ 2023 attack that triggered the war. U.S. President Donald Trump also said he did not think Hamas “should be rewarded” with recognition of Palestinian independence.
But British Transport Minister Heidi Alexander – designated by the government to respond to media questions on Wednesday – said: “This is not a reward for Hamas.
“Hamas is a vile terrorist organisation that has committed appalling atrocities. This is about the Palestinian people. It’s about those children that we see in Gaza who are starving to death,” Alexander said. “We’ve got to ratchet up pressure on the Israeli government to lift the restrictions to get aid back into Gaza.”
Starmer’s Call Follows Macron’s Move
Starmer’s decision follows that of French President Emmanuel Macron, who announced last week that Paris would recognise Palestinian statehood in September, becoming the first major Western power to do so, because of the dire humanitarian conditions in the enclave.
Previously, Britain and France, like other Western powers, had been committed to Palestinian independence, but as a goal that would best be achieved only at the conclusion of negotiations with Israel. In a televised address on Tuesday, Starmer said it had become necessary to act because the prospect of such a two-state solution was now under threat.
Britain would make the move at the U.N. General Assembly in September unless Israel took substantive steps to allow more aid into Gaza, made clear it would not annexe the West Bank and committed itself to a long-term peace process that delivered a two-state solution, Starmer said.
The most immediate impact of Britain recognising a Palestinian state may be an upgrading of diplomatic relations, according to one British government official.
Upgrading Relations
Britain now hosts a Palestinian mission in London, which could be upgraded to an embassy, and Britain could eventually open an embassy in the West Bank, the official said.
Starmer’s move “will isolate Israel more and more, but it won’t change anything on the ground,” said Azriel Bermant, a senior researcher at the Institute of International Relations Prague.
Bronwen Maddox, chief executive of the Chatham House think-tank, said the move put Britain into the forefront of countries trying to negotiate a solution, but that Starmer may have “muddled things by using recognition as a threat to Israel, when it is a goal of British foreign policy”.
“He might have done better to use other threats, for example, sanctions or arms controls against Israel for the immediate crisis in Gaza, to get Israel to change its behaviour there,” she said.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews, Britain’s biggest Jewish advocacy group, raised concerns that similarly clear conditions had not been set out for Hamas, which is still holding 50 hostages it seized in its October 2023 attack.
Alexander, when asked whether recognition was conditional on the release of hostages, said that the government would review whether to go ahead with recognition in September, and Britain had long said Hamas must release hostages.
The Muslim Council of Britain, the country’s largest Muslim umbrella organisation, said that making recognition conditional contradicted the government’s stated position that statehood was the inalienable right of the Palestinian people.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Bowen: UK move to recognise Palestinian state is a diplomatic crowbar to revive peace process
Bowen: UK move to recognise Palestinian state is a diplomatic crowbar to revive peace process. The intention, diplomatic sources say, is to empower moderates on both sides, Israelis and Palestinians. Britain’s decision to join France in recognising Palestine is another sign of Israel’s increasing diplomatic isolation. Donald Trump told reporters as he flew back to the US after his golfing interlude in Scotland that he didn’t support Britain’s move. The issue of Palestinian sovereignty could become another factor cracking apart transatlantic relations. The UK foreign secretary David Lammy told the UN’s conference on a two-state solution and recognition of a Palestinian state. He dismissed the accusation that Palestinian independence could be lethal for Israel. “There is no contradiction between support for Israel’s security and support for Palestinian statehood. Indeed, the opposite is true,” Lammy said. He recalled how Arthur Balfour, Britain’s first foreign secretary, had recalled how his predecessor, Arthur Villiers, had handed over responsibility for Palestine to the UN.
18 hours ago Share Save Jeremy Bowen International editor in Jerusalem Share Save
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Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s announcement that Britain will recognise Palestinian statehood is a major change in UK foreign policy. He offered to postpone recognition if Israel took “substantive steps to 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.” Israel’s immediate rejection of his statement meant that Starmer’s speech writers can start work now on what he will say at the UN General Assembly in September. UK recognition of Palestine looks “irreversible,” according to a senior British official. Starmer won’t be expecting Britain’s change of policy to produce an independent Palestinian state any time soon – from the perspective of many Israelis, the best time for it would be never – but the intention, diplomatic sources say, is to empower moderates on both sides, Israelis and Palestinians. The British hope they can jolt them into believing that peace might be possible.
It won’t be easy, not just because of the way Hamas killed around 1,200 people, including hundreds of Israeli civilians, and took hostages on 7 October 2023, followed by Israel’s vengeful response that has killed tens of thousands civilians and left Gaza in ruins. It is also because every attempt to make peace has failed. Years of peace talks in the 1990s ended in bloodshed. Every attempt to revive them since then has collapsed.
Israel’s rejection came minutes after Keir Starmer finished speaking in Downing Street. Later in the evening, Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted a fiercely worded denunciation on social media. “Starmer rewards Hamas’s monstrous terrorism and punishes its victims. A jihadist state on Israel’s border TODAY will threaten Britain TOMORROW.” “Appeasement towards jihadist terrorists always fails. It will fail you too. It will not happen.” Netanyahu denies Israel has caused starvation and catastrophe in Gaza. Had he accepted Britain’s conditions for a postponement, his government would have disintegrated. He depends on the support of ultra nationalist extremists who want to annex the occupied territories and force Palestinians out, not grant them independence. But Netanyahu is not their prisoner. He built a career opposing the two-state solution, the idea that peace can be built by creating an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel. Earlier this month he said a Palestinian state would be a ‘launchpad’ for more 7 October style attempts to destroy Israel. Netanyahu will be hoping for the strong backing of the US government. Its position is that recognising a Palestinian state now rewards Hamas terrorism. Donald Trump told reporters as he flew back to the US after his golfing interlude in Scotland that he didn’t support Britain’s move. The issue of Palestinian sovereignty could become another factor cracking apart transatlantic relations. Until the last few weeks Keir Starmer was not convinced the time was right to recognise Palestine. But pictures of Palestinian children in Gaza starving to death were the last straw after so much killing and devastation. Attitudes hardened in Downing Street and the Foreign Office, as well as in the Labour party and more widely in the UK. Britain’s decision to join France in recognising Palestine is another sign of Israel’s increasing diplomatic isolation. Two of its major western allies, the UK and France, both permanent members of the UN Security Council, have dismissed Israel’s attempt to block their recognition of Palestine when the General Assembly meets in New York in September.
Jeremy Bowen: Recognising Palestinian state is a big change for British foreign policy
In New York just after Starmer’s statement, David Lammy, the UK foreign secretary, was given a big round of applause when he announced Britain’s decision at the UN’s conference on a two-state solution and recognition of a Palestinian state. His dismissed the accusation that Palestinian independence could be lethal for Israel. “There is no contradiction between support for Israel’s security and support for Palestinian statehood. Indeed, the opposite is true.” “Let me be clear: the Netanyahu government’s rejection of a two-state solution is wrong – it’s wrong morally and it’s wrong strategically.” A British official said the atmosphere was electric as Lammy told the delegates that the UK’s announcement was being made “with the hand of history on our shoulders.” Lammy went on to delve into Britain’s imperial past in Palestine which is deeply intertwined with the roots of the conflict between Jews and Arabs for control of the land Britain once ruled. Britain captured Jerusalem from the Ottoman Empire in 1917 and controlled Palestine until in 1948, exhausted and out of ideas to deal with what was then a full-scale war between Arabs and Jews, it handed over responsibility to the UN and left Palestine. Immediately, Israel’s first prime minister David Ben Gurion declared independence, and Israel defeated an invasion by Arab armies. At the UN David Lammy recalled how Arthur Balfour, his predecessor as foreign secretary had in 1917 signed a typewritten letter promising to ‘view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.’ But the document, known as the Balfour Declaration, also stated “that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of non-Jewish communities in Palestine.” It did not use the word Arab, but that is what was meant. Lammy said Britain can be proud of the way it helped lay Israel’s foundations, But the promise to Palestinians, Lammy said, was not kept, and that “is a historical injustice which continues to unfold.” Britain’s conflicting promises fuelled and shaped the conflict. A time traveller going back a century to Palestine in the 1920s would find the tension and violence depressingly familiar. The way the UK hopes to end the misery in Gaza, create peace in the Middle East and remedy the historical injustice Lammy described is to revive the two-state solution. The conference in New York at which he was speaking was chaired by France and Saudi Arabia. It has produced a seven-page document aimed at creating a way ahead to revive the two-state solution, which includes condemnation by Arab states of Hamas and its 7 October attacks on Israel. The window for peace through the two-state solution appeared to be locked shut after the collapse of the peace process that started with real hope in the 1990s. Britain’s decision to recognise Palestine is a diplomatic crowbar to try to reopen it.
UK to recognize Palestinian state in September, unless Israel ends Gaza war, commits to peace
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced Tuesday that the UK would recognize a Palestinian state in September. Starmer said that Israel could forestall the measure by reaching a ceasefire in Gaza and ending the “appalling situation” in the Gaza Strip. The decision may lead more Western countries to make the move as well, with Malta declaring later Tuesday that it too will recognize a Palestinians state at the UN General Assembly. The announcement marked a major diplomatic challenge for Israel, coming days after France said it would recognize Palestinian state at UN in September, as well as the U.S. and France. The move was swiftly condemned by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who declared the move “rewards Hamas’s monstrous terrorism.’“Hamas are a terrorist organization responsible for the October 7th atrocities. They must never be rewarded. We have been unequivocal in our condemnation of those evil attacks, and our support for the right of the State of Israel to self-defense,” Netanyahu said.
The decision, which was relayed by Starmer to his cabinet and then to the public by way of a statement at 10 Downing Street, was swiftly condemned by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who declared the move “rewards Hamas’s monstrous terrorism.”
The announcement marked a major diplomatic challenge for Israel, coming days after France said it would recognize a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September.
Starmer said that Israel could forestall the measure by reaching a ceasefire in Gaza and ending the “appalling situation” there, making clear that it will not annex the West Bank, and committing to a peace process that results in a two-state solution.
“The Palestinian people have endured terrible suffering,” Starmer told reporters. “Now, in Gaza, because of a catastrophic failure of aid, we see starving babies, children too weak to stand, images that will stay with us for a lifetime. The suffering must end.”
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An unnamed source told Reuters that Starmer spoke with Netanyahu before the announcement. Starmer also spoke to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas before going public, the PA’s official Wafa news agency reported.
Abbas praised Starmer and called on the UK to “officially recognize the State of Palestine immediately.”
French President Emmanuel Macron, who did not offer Israel a way to avoid the unilateral declaration of Palestinian statehood, had been pushing Starmer to follow his lead, as were a growing number of lawmakers in Britain’s ruling Labour Party, seeing it as a way to pressure Israel amid growing concern of starvation in Gaza.
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French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot on Tuesday evening hailed the British announcement, writing on social media: “Together, through this momentous decision and our joint efforts, we are ending the infinite cycle of violence and re-opening the prospect of peace in the region.”
Britain, if it acts, would be the second Western power on the UN Security Council to recognize a Palestinian state after France, and would be the closest of Israel’s allies to do so. The decision may lead more Western countries to make the move as well, with Malta declaring later Tuesday that it too will recognize a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September.
“Our position reflects our commitment to efforts for a lasting peace in the Middle East,” Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela said in a Facebook post.
Starmer’s decision marked a striking reversal in policy after he disappointed many last week by rejecting calls to recognize a Palestinian state and saying that the timing must be right as part of a wider peace process.
But he has been increasingly vocal about the crisis in Gaza, saying that the people there faced an “absolute catastrophe” and that the British public were “revolted” by scenes of hunger and desperation.
He said that before taking a final decision, his government would assess in September on “how far the parties have met these steps,” but that no one would have a veto over the decision.
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In his announcement, the British leader stressed that the recognition of a Palestinian state did not amount to recognizing the Hamas terror group as a legitimate state actor.
“Hamas are a terrorist organization responsible for the October 7th atrocities. They must never be rewarded. We have been unequivocal in our condemnation of those evil attacks, and our support for the right of the State of Israel to self-defense,” the government statement read.
“Hamas must immediately release all the hostages, sign up to an immediate ceasefire, accept that they will play no part in the government of Gaza, and commit to disarmament,” it added.
The UK government statement also acknowledged that “recognition by itself will not change the situation on the ground.”
As such, it said that the move would come alongside “additional immediate steps to alleviate the humanitarian situation,” including airdropping supplies into Gaza in coordination with Jordan, as well as evacuating injured children from the Strip to receive medical treatment in the UK.
‘A reward for Hamas’
The announcement came a day after Starmer met with US President Donald Trump, who told him that he did “not mind” if Britain recognized a Palestinian state, though Washington has long declined to do so. “I don’t mind him taking a position,” Trump said regarding Starmer’s potential recognition of Palestine when he hosted the prime minister in Scotland on Monday. “I’m looking to get people fed right now.
Trump appeared to distance himself from those remarks after Starmer’s announcement, however, insisting they did not discuss the issue during his four-day visit to Scotland. “We never did discuss it,” the president told reporters aboard Air Force One while traveling back to the US on Tuesday.
While declining to speak out against Starmer, he criticized those who have called to pressure Israel.
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“If you do that, you really are rewarding Hamas, and I don’t think they should be rewarded,” he said. “I’m not about to do that.”
Still, Trump suggested that he was okay with the leaders of France and the UK having a different opinion than the US regarding unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state.
“That’s [Macron’s] opinion. He can have an opinion,” Trump said. “I guess Starmer is doing the same thing as Macron, and that’s okay. It doesn’t mean I have to agree.”
For its part, Israel’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement that more definitively rejected the UK decision.
The recognition of a Palestinian state “constitutes a reward for Hamas and harms efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and a framework for the release of the hostages,” it said.
In an English-language post on the official Prime Minister of Israel account on X, Netanyahu railed at his British counterpart, saying, “Starmer rewards Hamas’s monstrous terrorism & punishes its victims.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: Advertisement “Starmer rewards Hamas’s monstrous terrorism & punishes its victims. A jihadist state on Israel’s border TODAY will threaten Britain TOMORROW. Appeasement towards jihadist terrorists always fails. It will fail you too. It will not happen.” — Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) July 29, 2025
“A jihadist state on Israel’s border TODAY will threaten Britain TOMORROW,” he added. “Appeasement towards jihadist terrorists always fails. It will fail you too. It will not happen.”
Criticism also poured in from the Israeli opposition, although this was directed at the coalition, which it blamed for allowing the UK to reach this decision.
“This government led us from the most justified war in the world to a diplomatic disaster,” Opposition Leader Yair Lapid wrote in a Hebrew-language post on X. “One failure after another. A prime minister who has vanished from the diplomatic arena, a useless foreign minister, and ministers who endanger IDF soldiers every time they open their mouths.”
Yisrael Betyenu chairman Avigdor Liberman similarly declared that “the person responsible for the October 7 disaster is also responsible for the diplomatic collapse that keeps growing,” apparently referencing Netanyahu.
“More and more countries are considering recognizing the catastrophe known as a Palestinian state — including the UK, one of the key members of the United Nations Security Council,” Liberman added.
The decision was more warmly welcomed elsewhere, including at a United Nations conference on the two-state solution, where British Foreign Secretary David Lammy expounded on the move.
Addressing the conference, Lammy said potential UK recognition of Palestinian statehood was intended to put pressure on Jerusalem to end fighting in Gaza.
“What we have attempted to do is affect the situation on the ground, and I sincerely hope that we see a dramatic improvement to the suffering that we see and a commitment to a ceasefire,” he told reporters at the United Nations.
Asked if Trump was given a heads-up, Lammy avoided giving a direct answer, saying instead that while the US and UK have the “most special” relationship, “we have always been clear that no country has veto on solemn decisions that we make in the United Kingdom.”
Lammy won loud and sustained applause at the ministerial meeting for the UK’s announcement.
He also told the meeting that the rejection of a two-state solution by Netanyahu’s government “is wrong morally and it’s wrong strategically,” and stressed that it harmed the Israeli people by closing off what he said was the only path to peace.