September 22, (THEWILL) — The United Kingdom has formally recognised the state of Palestine.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who made the announcement on Sunday, said, “The offensive of recent weeks, the starvation and devastation, are utterly intolerable.
“I state clearly as Prime Minister of this great country that the United Kingdom formally recognises the state of Palestine. We recognise the state of Israel more than 75 years ago as a homeland for the Jewish people. Today we join over 150 countries who recognise a Palestinian state also – a pledge to the Palestinian and Israeli people that there can be a better future.”
The announcement came just minutes after Canada and Australia made similar declarations.
Starmer had said in July he would recognise Palestine ahead of the gathering of world leaders at the UN General Assembly next week, if the situation in Gaza did not improve.
Israel’s brutal assault on Gaza has killed at least 65,283 people in Gaza, with at least 55 Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since dawn on Sunday – 37 of them killed in Gaza City.
Speaking on Sunday, the Prime Minister said, “The man-made humanitarian crisis in Gaza has reached new depths.”
He added, “The Israeli government’s relentless and increasing bombardment of Gaza, the offensive of recent weeks, the starvation and devastation, are utterly intolerable.”
The Prime Minister went on to say he had directed work to sanction Hamas figures “in the coming weeks”, adding that the announcement is “not a reward for Hamas because it means Hamas can have no future, no role in government, no role in security”.
The formal recognition of Palestine comes just days after a UN inquiry found Israel has committed genocide in Gaza.
The UK Government has long been under pressure to formally recognise the state of Palestine, alongside taking a range of measures, including the suspension of arms exports to Israel and sanctions on Israeli cabinet members.
An event to commemorate the formal recognition of Palestine took place in London on Sunday and was attended by First Minister, John Swinney.
Ahead of the event, Swinney urged the Labour Government to go further and impose sanctions on Israel, as well as commit to a range of other measures.
“The recognition of a Palestinian state is a historic moment which should have come long ago. I welcome this long-awaited recognition, but stress that it must not be conditional and it must be backed by sanctions against Israel”, Swinney said.
The Scottish Parliament voted for an immediate boycott of Israel and companies complicit in genocide at the beginning of September, where the First Minister again reiterated calls for the UK to formally recognise Palestine.
Husam Zomlot, Palestinian ambassador to the UK, welcomed the “long-overdue” decision, but warned that “recognition must now be followed by action”.
Meanwhile, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has called the UK’s recognition of Palestine “an absurd prize for terrorism”.
A statement released by his office, said Israel would have “to fight both in the UN and in all the other fronts against the slanderous propaganda aimed at us, and against the calls to create a Palestinian state that will endanger our existence and constitute an absurd prize for terrorism.”
In a post on X, Israel’s foreign ministry wrote that the UK recognising Palestine as a state was “nothing but a reward for jihadist Hamas. Hamas leaders themselves openly admit: this recognition is a direct outcome, the ‘fruit’ for the October 7 massacre. Don’t let Jihadist ideology dictate your policy.”
Yaakov Amidror, a former national security adviser to Netanyahu, said Hamas could now say to the Palestinians that without its 2023 attack, which killed about 1,200, the recognition of Palestine by the UK and others would not have happened.
“It will be understood as a reward to them, and Starmer has lost any leverage that he had … and (a Palestinian state) is not going to happen anyway. Israel is determined to destroy the terrorist organisation that is called Hamas. Some of our friends around the world have decided that Hamas should survive and Israel should leave the Gaza Strip, taking our hostages … There is a gap here that cannot be bridged with nice words”, Amidror said.
Several countries, including France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Malta, have said they will join the more than 145 UN members that already recognise a Palestinian state.
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