{"id":244288,"date":"2025-09-21T16:40:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-21T16:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/244288\/"},"modified":"2025-09-21T16:40:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-21T16:40:10","slug":"uk-recognises-palestinian-statehood-108-years-after-balfour-declaration-israel-palestine-conflict-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/244288\/","title":{"rendered":"UK recognises Palestinian statehood 108 years after Balfour Declaration | Israel-Palestine conflict News"},"content":{"rendered":"

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced the United Kingdom\u2019s decision to formally recognise a Palestinian state more than 100 years after the Balfour Declaration<\/a> backed \u201cthe establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people\u201d, and 77 years after the creation of Israel in the British Mandate of Palestine.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the face of the growing horror in the Middle East, we are acting to keep alive the possibility of peace and of a two-state solution,\u201d Starmer said in a video statement Sunday.<\/p>\n

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The UK government said in July that it would shift its longstanding approach of holding off recognition until a supposed moment of maximum impact \u2013 unless Israel stops its genocidal war in Gaza<\/a>, commits to a long-term sustainable peace process that delivers a two-state solution, and allows more aid into the enclave.<\/p>\n

But the catastrophic situation in Gaza has only grown significantly more dire over the past few weeks, as the Israeli military continues to systematically destroy Gaza City to seize it, while continuing to starve and displace the\u00a0famine-stricken population<\/a>\u00a0of the enclave.<\/p>\n

Daily raids by Israeli soldiers and attacks by settlers are also ongoing across the occupied West Bank, with Israel advancing plans to annex the Palestinian territory and\u00a0\u201cbury\u201d the idea of a contiguous Palestinian state<\/a>\u00a0with occupied East Jerusalem as its capital.<\/p>\n

The historic move comes as Canada and Australia<\/a> also officially recognised Palestinian statehood two days before the start of the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), where Palestinian sovereignty after decades of\u00a0occupation and apartheid by Israel<\/a>\u00a0will be in focus.<\/p>\n

Starmer has pledged further action to sanction senior figures in the Hamas leadership in the coming weeks and stressed that the group would have no role in the future of Palestine.<\/p>\n

He also underscored that the move to recognise a Palestinian state would not embolden Hamas, which he described as a \u201cbrutal terrorist organisation that wants to see Israel destroyed\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cA call for a genuine two-state solution is the exact opposite of their hateful vision,\u201d Starmer said.<\/p>\n

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said, \u201cToday\u2019s historic decision, taken alongside some of our closest allies, to recognise a Palestinian State, reflects our unwavering commitment to a two-state solution and affirms the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination.\u201d<\/p>\n

Britain\u2019s Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy said on Sunday that recognising a Palestinian state would not bring one into existence \u201covernight\u201d, underlining his government\u2019s position that recognition must be part of a broader peace process, one that has been in a moribund state for decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny step to recognise it is because we wish to keep alive the prospects of a two-state solution,\u201d Lammy told Sky News.<\/p>\n

The Palestinian Authority\u2019s Foreign Minister Varsen Aghabekian Shahin said on Sunday that the recognition of a Palestinian state would send an important message.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbove all, it is a message of hope to the Palestinian people, a message of hope for a free, independent, sovereign state,\u201d she told a news conference in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, adding that the move would also mean that \u201cIsrael has no sovereignty on the territories of our state\u201d.<\/p>\n

Aghabekian described Israel\u2019s actions as \u201csystematic assault on the very fabric of humanity, designed to erase the Palestinian people\u2019s existence, culture and future\u201d.<\/p>\n

Layla Moran, the first representative of Palestinian descent to serve in the UK Parliament, told Al Jazeera that \u201ca decades-long injustice has now been rectified\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a small step, the way we should see it is the beginning of a journey,\u201d she said. \u201cIt is important that this translates now into changes on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt shouldn\u2019t have taken us a genocide to get to this point,\u201d Moran added.<\/p>\n

Israeli officials call for West Bank annexation<\/p>\n

In his first reaction to the recognition of Palestinian statehood, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it a \u201cprize\u201d for Hamas.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I have another message for you: It will not happen. A Palestinian state will not be established west of the Jordan River,\u201d Netanyahu said, adding that Israel\u2019s response to the moves would come after he returned to Israel from his visit to the United States, where he will travel this week.<\/p>\n

Israeli far-right ministers reacted to the announcement by calling on Netanyahu to move forward with the annexation of the West Bank, which Israelis refer to as Judea and Samaria.<\/p>\n

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said the recognition was a reward for Hamas and required immediate action. \u201cI intend to submit a proposal at the upcoming cabinet meeting for the immediate application of Israeli sovereignty,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Minister of Negev and Galilee Affairs Yitzhak Wasserlauf, a member of Ben-Gvir\u2019s Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party, went a step further, saying \u201cthe Land of Israel belongs exclusively to the people of Israel \u2013 there is no Palestinian people and no Palestinian state\u201d.<\/p>\n

US President Donald Trump expressed his opposition to the recognition during a state visit to the UK last week and a meeting with Starmer, saying this matter was among their \u201cfew disagreements\u201d.<\/p>\n

On Monday, France and Saudi Arabia will jointly host a delayed one-day summit in New York City at the United Nations on advancing a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine. Al Jazeera\u2019s Hamdah Salhut said Netanyahu was planning to meet Trump and other allies during his visit to the US and discuss possible reactions to the recognition, which may include closing embassies and consulates, among other diplomatic moves.<\/p>\n

However, \u201cthe annexation of the West Bank has been the [Israeli] far right\u2019s main objective since they came into power under Benjamin Netanyahu\u201d, Salhut said, noting that the recognition may serve as a catalyst for that aim despite ongoing international pressure and condemnation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced the United Kingdom\u2019s decision to formally recognise a Palestinian state more…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":244289,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[440,156,99,13191,3097,50,4851,124,376,103],"class_list":{"0":"post-244288","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-europe","9":"tag-france","10":"tag-israel","11":"tag-israel-palestine-conflict","12":"tag-middle-east","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-palestine","15":"tag-portugal","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115243281708467375","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244288\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}