The UK will recognise a Palestinian state in September unless Israel agrees to a ceasefire in Gaza, allows the UN to bring in aid and takes other steps toward long-term peace, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Tuesday.
Starmer, who is under mounting domestic pressure over the issue as scenes of hunger in Gaza horrify many Britons, convened a rare summertime Cabinet meeting to discuss the situation there. It came after he discussed the crisis with US President Donald Trump during a meeting in Scotland on Monday, reports AP.
Trump told reporters on Monday that he did not mind Starmer “taking a position” on Palestinian statehood. On his flight back to the US on Tuesday, Trump said the two never discussed the UK potentially recognising a Palestinian state.
“We have no view on that,” Trump said.
Starmer said that Britain will recognise a state of Palestine before the United Nations General Assembly, “unless the Israeli government takes substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza, agree to a ceasefire and commit to a long-term, sustainable peace, reviving the prospect of a two-state solution.
“And this includes allowing the UN to restart the supply of aid, and making clear there will be no annexations in the West Bank,” he said.
It seems highly unlikely that the government of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu could meet the conditions, which cut to the heart of the most intractable issues in the conflict. Netanyahu rejects the two-state solution on both nationalistic and security grounds.
Israel’s foreign ministry said it rejected the British statement.
“The shift in the British government’s position at this time, following the French move and internal political pressures, constitutes a reward for Hamas and harms efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and a framework for the release of hostages,” the ministry said on X.
Starmer also repeated UK demands that Hamas release all the hostages it holds, agree to a ceasefire, disarm and “accept that they will play no part in the government of Gaza.”
Starmer said in a televised statement that his government will assess in September “how far the parties have met these steps” before making a final decision on recognition.
Britain has long supported the idea of an independent Palestinian state existing alongside Israel, but has said recognition should come as part of a negotiated two-state solution to the conflict.
But Starmer said Britain was willing to take the step because “the very idea of a two-state solution is reducing and feels further away today than it has for many years.” He said that despite the set of conditions he set out, Britain believes that “statehood is the inalienable right of the Palestinian people.”
Pressure to formally recognise Palestinian statehood has mounted since French President Emmanuel Macron announced that his country will become the first major Western power to recognise a Palestinian state in September.
As with France, British recognition would be largely symbolic, but it’s part of a broader European and global shift against Israel and could increase diplomatic pressure for an end to the conflict.
More than 140 countries recognise a Palestinian state, including a dozen in Europe. Macron’s announcement last week made France the first Group of Seven country — and the largest in Europe — to take that step.
Europe has widely soured on Israel over Gaza. Countries including Ireland, Spain and the Netherlands have sought to aggressively pressure Israel to let in more aid and cease military operations.
More than 250 of the 650 lawmakers in the House of Commons have signed a letter urging the British government to recognise a Palestinian state.
Britain has a particular historic role as the former governing power of what was then Palestine and author of the 1917 Balfour Declaration, which backed the establishment of a Jewish homeland.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy said Britain bore a “special burden of responsibility.”
“Our support for Israel, its right to exist, and the security of its people, is steadfast,” Lammy told a meeting at the UN in New York. “However, the Balfour Declaration came with the solemn promise that nothing shall be done, nothing which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of the Palestinian people as well. And colleagues, this has not been upheld, and it is a historical injustice which continues to unfold.”
France welcomed Britain’s announcement.
″The United Kingdom is joining the momentum created by France for the recognition of the state of Palestine,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot posted on X.
Omar Awadallah, assistant to the Palestinian Authority’s foreign minister, welcomed Starmer’s announcement and said the UK has a historic responsibility to recognise a Palestine state and would be “correcting a historic injustice,” if it follows through in September. The Palestinian Authority has limited autonomy in pockets of the occupied West Bank.