Keir Starmer is under mounting pressure from cabinet ministers to immediately recognise Palestine as a state, as global outrage grows over Israel's killing of starving civilians in Gaza. The prime minister has been urged by senior ministers in recent cabinet meetings to take a leading role in issuing recognition, amid a growing sense of desperation and horror inside the Labour cabinet over Israel's actions.
One cabinet minister said: “We say that recognising Palestinian statehood is a really important symbol that you can only do once. But if not now, then when?” The UK currently plans to formally acknowledge Palestine only as part of a peace process and in conjunction with other western countries, at a point of “maximum impact” – without specifying what that would be.
Health secretary Wes Streeting called for recognition of Palestine “while there’s still a state of Palestine left to recognise”, criticising Israel’s “intolerable” attack on a World Health Organization facility in Deir al-Balah. He told MPs: “I deplore Israel’s attacks on healthcare workers as well as other innocent civilians trying to access healthcare or vital aid.” Streeting is among cabinet ministers pushing for recognition, alongside justice secretary Shabana Mahmood and Northern Ireland secretary Hilary Benn.
Foreign secretary David Lammy said he felt “appalled, sickened” by scenes of starving Palestinians being shot as they sought food. He told the BBC: “We said we wanted that to be part of a process. But we have had no process. What we have had is mayhem and conflict.” He reiterated his belief in a two-state solution, adding: “We will do all we can to achieve that in time.”
France and Saudi Arabia are co-chairing a rescheduled international conference at the UN in New York later this month to discuss postwar plans for Gaza and preparations for formally acknowledging Palestine. Emmanuel Macron told British parliamentarians that a two-state solution was “the only way” to build peace, but diplomats say he has faced resistance from allies such as Britain and Canada.
