The moment when the UK formally recognises a Palestinian state at the end of Israel’s war with Hamas might be drawing nearer, the Foreign Secretary David Cameron suggested Monday.
The diplomatic initiative would come despite the fact doing so would reward Hamas for the terror attack of October 7 and defy Israel’s opposition to any such move.
Cameron, speaking ahead of his fourth visit to the region since being appointed Britain’s top diplomat in November, claimed Palestinians had to be given a political horizon to encourage peace in the Middle East.
The UK has a responsibility to set out what a Palestinian state would look like, the former Conservative prime minister told a Westminster reception.
The Palestinian people would have to be shown “irreversible progress” towards a two-state solution, he further explained, according to the BBC.
“As that happens, we – with allies – will look at the issue of recognising a Palestinian state, including at the United Nations,” he told the Conservative Middle East Council.
“That could be one of the things that helps to make this process irreversible.”
He also held Israel responsible for the slow movement of aid into Gaza, claiming it was “ludicrous” that vital British and other aid was being sent back at the border.
Husam Zomlot, Palestinian ambassador to the UK, applauded Cameron’s remarks about recognising a Palestinian state as “historic.”
“It is the first time a UK foreign secretary considers recognising the State of Palestine, bilaterally and in the U.N., as a contribution to a peaceful solution rather than an outcome,” Zomlot told the Financial Times on Tuesday.
“If implemented, the Cameron declaration would remove Israel’s veto power over Palestinian statehood [and] would boost efforts towards a two-state outcome.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has previously dismissed any moves towards the creation of a Palestinian state or working with the western-backed Palestinian Authority, which administers limited parts of the West Bank.
Public opinion polls back him up: in 2012, the vast majority of Israelis backed a Palestinian state, as Breitbart News’s Joel Pollak has noted.
After several wars started by Hamas, including the October 7 terror attack, public opinion in Israel has shifted completely in the opposite direction.
In the Arab world, despite the persistence of the Abraham Accords between Israel and several Arab states, 89 percent of the general population rejects any recognition of Israel.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.