United Kingdom formally recognises the Palestinian state
- What does recognising a Palestinian state mean?
- Strong Israeli criticism
- The United States opposes
- What about Palestinian refugees?
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Keir Starmer, announced the formal recognition of the Palestinian state, representing a historic act and paving the way towards the ‘only path to peace’.
‘In the face of growing horror in the Middle East, the UK will act to keep alive the possibility of peace through the two-state solution,’ Keir Starmer said in a video posted on his social media accounts.
What does recognising a Palestinian state mean?
Palestine is a state that both exists and does not exist. This recognition, which coincides with announcements by Australia, Canada and Portugal, is also a step towards the British country acknowledging the mistake made in signing the Balfour Declaration in 1917, in which the British crown laid the foundations for the establishment of the State of Israel on Palestinian territory, thereby squandering the rights of the Palestinian people.
With the United Kingdom's recognition, 147 countries worldwide (3 out of 4) now recognise the State of Palestine and the two-state solution, as stated in the latest sessions of the United Nations Assembly.
Regarding the Prime Minister's words, the Foreign Office stated that the decision does not mean that the United Kingdom ‘recognises the Palestinian state on the provisional borders, based on the 1967 lines, with equal land swaps, to be finalised as part of future negotiations’.
However, the two-state solution raises questions about the geographical extent of each state; the situation in the West Bank; the dispute over the city of Jerusalem; and the establishment of an independent government, which in this case would be led by the Palestinian Authority.
Strong Israeli criticism
Despite the fact that more and more countries are recognising the Palestinian state, for Israel this is a decision that, in the words of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, ‘will not materialise. No Palestinian state will be established west of the Jordan River.’ ‘A Gaza ruled by the Palestinian Authority is not the solution, it is a problem,’ he added.
Along the same lines, Israel's Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, called on countries that recognise the two states to respond to the question of where the West Bank will remain.
‘The recognition of the State of Palestine by Britain, Canada and Australia requires immediate countermeasures, including the imposition of full Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria (the biblical name for the West Bank) and the dismantling of the Palestinian Authority,’ Ben-Gvir stressed. He even threatened to ask for permission in the next parliamentary session to impose sovereignty over what Israel considers the ‘occupied West Bank.’
The United States opposes
The more than 65,000 deaths and 164,000 injuries attributed to Israel in the conflict in the Gaza Strip against Hamas, perpetrators of the attacks on 7 October 2023 in which more than 1,200 people were killed, are placing the Jewish state in an increasingly isolated position with a significant loss of support.
As reflected in the latest vote by the United Nations General Assembly, only the United States, Paraguay, Palau and Nauru, along with Israel itself, voted against the participation of the Palestinian Authority, as representative of a Palestinian state, in the United Nations.
In this scenario, in which Israel is beginning to be questioned by most of its partners, the possibility of establishing a Palestinian state is only a matter of time. However, the US authorities insist that the massacre of 7 October must be condemned and that the incitement to hatred by the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and the Palestinian Authority (PA) must cease.
This was stated by Marco Rubio, US Secretary of State: ‘Before the PLO and the PA can be considered partners for peace, they must systematically condemn terrorism — including the massacre of 7 October — and stop inciting terrorism in education,’ adds the press release issued by the State Department spokesperson.
What about Palestinian refugees?
Being born or descended from Palestinians is synonymous with being a refugee. According to the United Nations, more than 6 million Palestinians worldwide are recognised and registered as refugees.
Discussing how and when to establish a Palestinian state is to discuss the fate of millions of people whose homes are being shattered. Although most Palestinian refugees reside in neighbouring countries such as Lebanon, Jordan or Syria, the need to return to their place of origin is becoming an increasingly vocal demand at the United Nations headquarters in New York.
However, the desires of Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu to turn the Gaza Strip into a Riviera, conditional on the expulsion of the Palestinians, raise serious doubts as to whether this can be considered forced displacement.