UK, Australia and Canada recognize a Palestinian state despite opposition from US and Israel

LONDON (AP) — The U.K., Australia and Canada formally recognized a Palestinian state on Sunday despite vociferous opposition from the U.S. and Israel.

The coordinated initiative from the three Commonwealth nations and long-time allies of Israel reflects growing outrage at Israel's conduct of the war in Gaza and the steps taken by the Israeli government to thwart any 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," while insisting that it wasn't a reward for Hamas, which was behind the atrocities on Oct. 7, 2023 that led to some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, being killed and abduction of another 250 or so.

“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. A pledge to the Palestinian and Israeli people that there can be a better future.”

The 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 U.N. 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.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “We will have to fight both at the UN and in all other arenas against the false propaganda against us and the calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state that will endanger our existence and constitute an absurd reward for terrorism. The international community will hear from us on this matter in the coming days.”

Trump disapproval

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in his statement that the three announcements Sunday were “part of a coordinated international effort to build new momentum for a two-state solution.”

President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed Britain’s announcement, stressing that it constitutes an important and necessary step toward achieving a just peace in accordance with international law.

The U.K. announcement comes just days after a state visit to Britain by U.S. President Donald Trump, during which he voiced his disapproval of the plan.

Critics, including the U.S. and the Israeli government, which has shown no interest in a two-state solution, have condemned the plans, saying it rewards Hamas.

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 Gaza — with no recognized international capital.

'Very little will change on the ground'

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.