British Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a statement inside No. 10 Downing St. in London on Tuesday, the day the Cabinet was recalled to discuss the situation in Gaza. Toby Melville/Pool Reuters/AP hide caption
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Toby Melville/Pool Reuters/AP
The United Kingdom will recognize a Palestinian state by September unless Israel commits to peace in the Gaza Strip, stopping the annexation of the West Bank and other measures, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Tuesday.
This follows an announcement last week by French President Emmanuel Macron that France plans to recognize a Palestinian state in September at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Europe
France will recognize a Palestinian state
France recognizes Palestinian state
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Starmer said he has long supported negotiations to establish a Palestinian state alongside Israel — known as a two-state solution — to help resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But that solution is now under threat, he said.
“So today, as part of this process towards peace, I can confirm the U.K. will recognize the state of Palestine by the United Nations General Assembly in September unless the Israeli government takes 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,” Starmer said in an address on Tuesday.
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Starmer also called on Hamas, the Palestinian militant and political organization, to release the hostages it seized in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which prompted a full-scale Israeli military invasion of Gaza. He said Hamas should “sign up to a ceasefire, disarm and accept that they will play no part in the government of Gaza.”
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The announcement came as international alarm has grown over starvation and deaths in the Gaza Strip, after nearly 22 months of war between Israel and Hamas in the territory. A United Nations-backed food security group on Tuesday warned that the “worst-case scenario of famine” is unfolding, as the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the war topped 60,000, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Starmer said he discussed his plans in separate calls Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
The Israeli government, which opposes the creation of a Palestinian state, criticized Britain’s move. “Starmer rewards Hamas’s monstrous terrorism & punishes its victims. A jihadist state on Israel’s border TODAY will threaten Britain TOMORROW,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement on social media.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa, who met with Britain’s foreign secretary in New York, said he welcomed Britain’s move, the official Palestinian Wafa news agency reported.
Mustafa and President Abbas are part of the Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the West Bank and is separate from Hamas, which runs Gaza. Palestinian leaders want the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem to form a Palestinian state.
Starmer won applause from members of his Labour Party. But some members of the opposition Conservative Party said the policy did not put enough conditions on Hamas. BBC international editor Jeremy Bowen said it was a “big change in British foreign policy.”
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More than 140 countries, including several in Europe, already recognize Palestinian statehood. The U.K. and France would be the biggest Western powers and the first members of the Group of Seven leading economies to do so.
The U.K. announcement follows a meeting Monday between Starmer and President Trump in Scotland, where the war in Gaza and mass starvation in the territory were leading issues discussed.
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When asked whether Starmer should join France in recognizing a Palestinian state, Trump told reporters: “I’m not going to take a position. I don’t mind him [Starmer] taking a position. I’m looking for getting people fed right now.”
After French President Macron announced his government would recognize Palestinian statehood, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on social media: “This reckless decision only serves Hamas propaganda.” In a statement, the State Department said moves like France’s were “counterproductive gestures” that undercut U.S. diplomatic efforts on the war in Gaza.
