The U.K., Australia and Canada formally recognized a Palestinian state on Sunday, prompting an angry response from Israel, which ruled out the prospect.
The coordinated initiative from the three Commonwealth nations and long-time allies reflects growing outrage at Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza and the steps taken by the Israeli government to thwart efforts to create a Palestinian state, including by the continued expansion of settlements in the West Bank.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has faced pressure to take a harder line on Israel within his own governing Labour Party over the deteriorating situation in Gaza, said the U.K.’s move is intended “to revive the hope of peace for the Palestinians and Israelis.” He insisted it wasn’t a reward for Hamas, which was behind the attack on Oct. 7, 2023, in which the militants killed some 1,200 people and abducted 251 others.
“Today, to revive the hope of peace and a two-state solution, I state clearly as prime minister of this great country that the United Kingdom formally recognizes the state of Palestine,” Starmer said in a video message. “We recognized the state of Israel more than 75 years ago as a homeland for the Jewish people. Today we join over 150 countries who recognize a Palestinian state also.”
The moves by the three countries prompted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to say that the establishment of a Palestinian state “will not happen.”
The U.K. announcement was widely anticipated after Starmer said in July that the U.K. would recognize a Palestinian state unless Israel agreed to a ceasefire in Gaza, allowed the United Nations to bring in aid and took other steps toward long-term peace.
More countries are expected to join the list recognizing a Palestinian state at the U.N. General Assembly this week, including France, which like the U.K., is one of the five permanent members of the Security Council.
Palestinian and Israeli reactions
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasted the three countries for proferring a “prize” to Hamas.
“It will not happen,” he said. “A Palestinian state will not be established west of the Jordan River.”
Netanyahu is set to give a speech to the General Assembly on Friday before heading to see U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House Monday week. Ahead of Sunday’s announcement, Trump said he disapproved of the U.K.’s anticipated move.
Hamas hailed the decision, calling it a “rightful outcome of our people’s struggle, steadfastness, and sacrifices on the path to liberation and return.” The Islamic militant group, which is sworn to Israel’s destruction, called on the world to isolate Israel.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas stressed that Sunday’s moves constitute an important and necessary step toward achieving a just peace in accordance with international law.
As well as arguing that recognition is immoral, critics argue that it’s an empty gesture given that the Palestinian people are divided into two territories — the West Bank and the Gaza strip— and no recognized international capital.
Historical overlay
The U.K. and France have a historic role in the politics of the Middle East over the past 100 years, having carved up the region following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I.
As part of that carve-up, the U.K. became the governing power of what was then Palestine. It was also author of the 1917 Balfour Declaration, which backed the establishment of a “national home for the Jewish people.”
However, the second part of the declaration has been largely neglected over the decades. It noted “that nothing shall be done, nothing which may prejudice the civil and religious rights” of the Palestinian people.
“It’s significant for France and the U.K. to recognize Palestine because of the legacy of these two countries’ involvement in the Middle East,” said Burcu Ozcelik, senior research fellow for Middle East Security at London-based Royal United Services Institute. “But without the United States coming on board with the idea of a Palestine, I think very little will change on the ground.”
Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian head of mission in the U.K., told the BBC that recognition would right a colonial-era wrong. “The issue today is ending the denial of our existence that started 108 years ago, in 1917,” he said. “And I think today, the British people should celebrate a day when history is being corrected, when wrongs are being righted, when recognition of the wrongs of the past are beginning to be corrected.”
Diplomatic shift
The U.K. has for decades supported an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel, but insisted recognition must come as part of a peace plan to achieve a two-state solution.
However, the government has become increasingly worried that such a solution is becoming all but impossible – and not only because of the razing of Gaza and displacement of most of its population during nearly two years of conflict, which has seen more than 65,000 people killed in Gaza, displaced around 90% of the population and caused a catastrophic humanitarian crisis.
Last week, independent experts commissioned by the U.N.’s Human Rights Council concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, a charge that Israel rejected as “distorted and false.”
Also vexing the U.K. is Israel’s government has been aggressively expanding settlements in the West Bank, land Palestinians want for their future state. Much of the world regards Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, which is ostensibly run by the Palestinian Authority, as illegal.
“This move has symbolic and historic weight, makes clear the U.K.’s concerns about the survival of a two-state solution, and is intended to keep that goal relevant and alive,” said Olivia O’Sullivan, Director of the U.K. in the World Programme at the London-based think tank, Chatham House.