Backlash after Cameron calls for Palestine state
In major shift, he risks infuriating Israel over move
DAVID Cameron faced a furious backlash last night after he said Britain is considering formal recognition of a Palestinian state.
In comments likely to enrage Israel, the Foreign Secretary said the move would help to make a twostate solution an ‘irreversible’ process.
But he faced criticism that bringing forward the recognition of a Palestinian state would ‘reward Hamas’s atrocities’ on October 7. Lord Cameron discussed offering ‘Palestinian people a political horizon’ under diplomatic efforts to end the Israeli-Hamas war.
Speaking at a reception for Arab ambassadors earlier this week ahead of his trip to the region, he said: ‘We should be starting to set out what a Palestinian state would look like. We, with allies, will look at the issue of recognising a Palestinian state, including at the United Nations. This could be one of the things that helps to make this process irreversible.’
Recognition of a Palestinian state would represent a major shift in British foreign policy, and No10 last night appeared to distance itself from the remarks. In total, 139 out of 193 UN member states have recognised the Palestinian state, which comprises the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The UK instead terms the areas the ‘Occupied Palestinian Territories’ and has a consulate in Jerusalem rather than a full embassy.
Tory MP and former Cabinet minister Theresa Villiers said she found it ‘disturbing’ Lord Cameron had seemingly changed the Government’s stance on recognising a Palestinian state.
Colleague Sir Michael Ellis said the move could equip ‘dangerous actors’ with the ‘trimmings and capabilities of a state’.
But Foreign Office minister Andrew Mitchell said there had been ‘no change’ in policy, while Downing Street said recognition of a Palestinian state will take place when ‘it best serves the cause of peace’.
In the House of Commons Ms Villiers yesterday said: ‘It’s really disturbing that BBC online is reporting that the Foreign Secretary has changed the UK Government’s approach.
‘Will the minister agree that bringing forward and accelerating unilateral recognition of Palestinian state would be to reward Hamas’s atrocities?’
Mr Mitchell replied: ‘ There is no question of rewarding Hamas for the appalling acts they perpetrated in a pogrom on October 7. The point the Foreign Secretary has been making is that we must give the people of the West Bank and Gaza a credible route to a Palestine state and a new future... when the time is right.’
Sir Michael said: ‘ The Palestinian authorities’ grip on security control across the West Bank has been pushed out by the malevolent forces of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad and local terror groups funded by Iran. Wouldn’t unilateral recognition of Palestinian state now risk equipping those dangerous actors I just mentioned with the trimmings and capabilities of a state?’
Palestinian ambassador to the UK Husam Zomlot described Lord Cameron’s words as a ‘significant’ moment. He wrote online: ‘It is the first time a UK Foreign Secretary considers recognising the State of Palestine, bilaterally and in the UN, as a contribution to a peaceful solution rather than an outcome.’
The Prime Minister’s spokesman said: ‘ We’ve always been clear that we will recognise a Palestinian state at a time it best serves the cause of peace.’
Lord Cameron, who is today visiting the Middle East, is expected to call for stability in efforts to stop the Israel-Hamas war escalating into a wider conflict.