UK could recognise a Palestinian state, says Cameron
6th February 2024
British foreign secretary affirms a post-ceasefire recognition of Palestine could happen before the end of what could be protracted talks with Israel
THE UK could officially recognise a Palestinian state before striking a deal with Israel, David Cameron has said.
The move could happen as part of a process of ongoing talks, pushing for peace in the Middle East, said the foreign secretary.
The acceptance of Palestinian independence would also include status at the UN, he added.
At a conference for diplomatic leaders in Lebanon on his latest tour of the region, Cameron set out his vision for the next steps for the besieged territories.
He described how recognition of Palestine could occur without waiting for the outcome of what could be years of protracted talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians over finding a two-state solution.
He said: “What we need to do is give the Palestinian people a horizon towards a better future; the future of having a state of their own.”
That prospect is “absolutely vital” for the long-term peace and security of the region, he said.
Britain, the USA and other Western powers have long supported the idea of a sovereign Palestine next to a secure Israel. But no progress in settlement negotiations has been made since 2009.
Israel’s hawkish prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected establishing an independent Palestine after the Gaza war. He has even boasted in recent weeks how he has been personally responsible for the prevention of Palestinian statehood in his time in office.
Some of Israel’s key allies recognising a Palestinian state without Israel’s endorsement could isolate Israel on the international stage, and exert pressure on it’s right-wing government to come to the negotiating table.
Cameron said the first step in resolving the conflict must be a “pause in the fighting” in Gaza leading to a “permanent, sustainable ceasefire.”
He added that in order for the UK to recognise a Palestinian state, the leaders of Hamas - which is considered a terrorist organisation by the UK - would have to leave Gaza.
“Because you can’t have a two-state solution with Gaza still controlled by the people responsible for 07 October,” he said, referring to the horrific Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the recent escalation in violence.
In a nationally broadcast news conference, Netanyahu vowed to press on with the Gaza offensive until Israel realised a “decisive victory over Hamas.”
He said that he had conveyed his rejection of the recognition of a Palestinian state to the USA in recent talks with President Biden, and insisted that Israel would retain control over the whole region, from the river to the sea.
Said Netanyahu: “In any future arrangement [...] Israel needs security control of all territory west of the Jordan [River]. This collides with the idea of [Palestinian] sovereignty. What can you do?
“Every territory we pull out from, we get terror - terrible terror - against us. It happened in Southern Lebanon, it happened in the Gaza Strip, and it happened in the [West Bank] when we did it in parts.”
Of the plans posited by Biden and Cameron, he added: “The prime minister needs to be capable of saying no to our friends.”
More than 100 days after Hamas triggered the war with its attack on southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 240 hostage back to Gaza, Israel continues to wage one of the deadliest and most destructive military campaigns in recent history.
More than 28,000 Palestinians have been killed in the reprisal attacks, the majority of them women and children; 85% of the narrow coastal enclave’s 2.3 million people have been driven out of their homes; and the UN says a quarter of the population are starving.
