Britain’s top diplomat said Thursday that his country could officially recognize a Palestinian state after a cease-fire in Gaza without waiting for the outcome of what could be years-long talks between Israel and the Palestinians on a two-state solution. Foreign Secretary David Cameron, speaking to The Associated Press during a visit Thursday to Lebanon intended to tamp down regional tensions, said no recognition could come while Hamas remained in Gaza, but that it could take place while Israeli negotiations with Palestinian leaders were continuing.
Quick Read
- UK might officially recognize a Palestinian state after a Gaza cease-fire, without waiting for Israel-Palestine talks to conclude.
- Foreign Secretary David Cameron, during a Lebanon visit, stated recognition could occur during ongoing Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
- UK’s potential recognition aims to offer Palestinians a future vision of statehood, crucial for regional peace and security.
- Britain, like the US and other Western nations, traditionally supports a two-state solution through negotiated settlements.
- Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu opposes a Palestinian state post-war, claiming efforts to prevent its establishment.
- UK recognition could pressure Israel to engage in negotiations by potentially isolating it without its agreement.
- Cameron emphasized the need for a Gaza fighting pause leading to a sustainable cease-fire and Hamas’s departure from Gaza for UK recognition.
- Cameron also proposed a plan to reduce Lebanon-Israel border tensions, involving British training for Lebanese army forces.
The Associated Press has the story:
Cameron: UK could recognize Palestinian state before peace deal with Israel
Newslooks- RIYAK, Lebanon (AP) —
Britain’s top diplomat said Thursday that his country could officially recognize a Palestinian state after a cease-fire in Gaza without waiting for the outcome of what could be years-long talks between Israel and the Palestinians on a two-state solution.
Foreign Secretary David Cameron, speaking to The Associated Press during a visit Thursday to Lebanon intended to tamp down regional tensions, said no recognition could come while Hamas remained in Gaza, but that it could take place while Israeli negotiations with Palestinian leaders were continuing.
U.K. recognition of an independent state of Palestine, including in the United Nations, “can’t come at the start of the process, but it doesn’t have to be the very end of the process,” said Cameron, a former British prime minister.
“It could be something that we consider as this process, as this advance to a solution, becomes more real,” Cameron said. “What we need to do is give the Palestinian people a horizon towards a better future, the future of having a state of their own.”
That prospect is “absolutely vital for the long-term peace and security of the region,” he said.
Britain, the U.S. and other Western countries have supported the idea of an independent Palestine existing alongside Israel as a solution to the region’s most intractable conflict, but have said Palestinian independence should come as part of a negotiated settlement. There have been no substantive negotiations since 2009.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for his part, has publicly rejected the creation of an independent Palestinian state after the war, and has even boasted in recent weeks that he was instrumental to preventing Palestinian statehood.
A move by some of Israel’s key allies to recognize a Palestinian state without Israel’s buy-in could isolate Israel and put pressure on it to come to the table.
Cameron said the first step must be a “pause in the fighting” in Gaza that would eventually turn into “a permanent, sustainable ceasefire.”
He added that in order for his country to recognize a Palestinian state, the leaders of the Hamas militant group would need to leave Gaza “because you can’t have a two state solution with Gaza still controlled by the people responsible for Oct. 7,” referring to the deadly Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the war in Gaza.
Hamas has so far taken the position that its leaders would not leave the enclave as part of a ceasefire deal.
Cameron said his country is also proposing a plan to deescalate tensions on the Lebanon-Israel border, where the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Israeli forces have been trading fire near-daily for the past four months, sparking fears of a wider war.
The plan would include Britain training Lebanese army forces to carry out more security work in the border region, he said.
