UK recognition of Palestine could help save Israel from the abyss

The Palestinian flag flies over UN headquarters in New York. The case for recognition of the State of Palestine can be easily made without referencing the Gaza war. EPA

Ten years have passed since British MPs adopted a nonbinding resolution to recognise the State of Palestine alongside the State of Israel as “a contribution to securing a negotiated two-state solution”. The motion, tabled by Labour, passed by an overwhelming majority. However, the government led by then prime minister David Cameron chose not to adopt it. Since then, the Foreign Office has repeatedly said that the UK will recognise Palestine “when it best serves the objective of peace”. That moment is now.

Labour’s stance while in opposition created the expectation that once in power, it would recognise Palestinian statehood. It was therefore disappointing that the party’s 2024 manifesto, released on the eve of July’s general election – and with Labour clearly heading toward victory – asserted that statehood is “the inalienable right of the Palestinian people” but tethered recognition to “a renewed peace process”.

With this caveat, Labour dashed hopes that the party would finally take action on the issue. In fact, it regressed from the stand taken 10 years earlier when, explaining the objective of the recognition motion, shadow Middle East minister Ian Lucas said in 2014: "This is not an alternative to negotiations. It is a bridge for beginning them.” Unfortunately, it appears that after Labour built that bridge, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is hesitant to cross it.

UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves heckled by pro-Palestine protesters

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The case for recognition can be easily made without referencing the Gaza war. The Palestinian people’s unassailable right to self-determination in a sovereign state alongside the State of Israel is anchored in innumerable UN resolutions. But recognition would not benefit the Palestinians alone. At this point in time, there can be no greater contribution to peace and security for us Israelis as well.

Reluctance by key western states to recognise Palestine has fed Israel’s misguided belief that the bestowal of Palestinian independence is its prerogative, to be conferred when the Palestinians meet its requirements. The Labour manifesto may state that recognition “is not the gift of any neighbour”, but words alone cannot convince Israel that it is not entitled to the right of veto over the Palestinians’ future.

Israel is currently led by a power-hungry prime minister indebted to a cohort of ultra-right ministers with messianic aspirations who are leading the country to moral decay, theocratic rule, economic hardship and social disintegration. The government’s cunning shift from de facto to de jure annexation of the West Bank has been acknowledged by the International Court of Justice, which has determined that the 1967 Israeli occupation is unlawful.

Meanwhile, the Gaza war has rekindled the settler movement’s lust for Palestinian land in the Strip as well. The Israeli government’s insistence on maintaining military control of Gaza is preparing the ground for civilian settlement in the name of “security”. The Israeli people, shattered by the events of October 7 and mired in political and media propaganda about the murderous intentions of all Palestinians, young and old, need international engagement to convince them that the diplomatic alternative denigrated by their leaders is attainable.

Palestinians' right to self-determination is unassailable, but recognition would reinforce the legitimacy of Israel's 1967 borders, shielding it from growing challenges to its very existence

Recognition of the State of Palestine could save Israel from the abyss. It would reinforce the legitimacy of the State of Israel within the 1967 borders, shielding it from growing challenges to its very existence. Furthermore, the threat to global stability posed by the Gaza war gives the question of recognition an added urgency. The UK position that it accepts the principle but will proceed when, as Foreign Secretary David Lammy puts it, “circumstances are right” is untenable. The two sides have never been as far apart as they are today, and the need for constructive international intervention has never been greater.

At a news conference following a Nato summit in July, Mr Starmer sought to quash reports that he is reluctant to recognise Palestine before the US, fearing a backlash from the Joe Biden administration. He said that he would determine the timing of a decision independently and would “not follow anyone else”. Mr Starmer’s words, however, cannot mask the fact that the UK is already lagging behind pioneering Sweden as well as Norway, Ireland and Spain, which announced recognition in late May, and Slovenia, which followed shortly after, making a total of 145 of the 193 UN member states that recognise Palestine.

Gazans react to Spain, Ireland and Norway to recognise Palestine

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If Mr Starmer truly seeks to forge an independent foreign policy, he should pay attention to the changing music in the Democratic Party under US Vice President Kamala Harris and her team. Reacting to possible Israeli annexation of the West Bank in 2020, Ilan Goldenberg, Ms Harris’s newly appointed Jewish liaison director, advocated recognition of Palestine as the “most effective and meaningful response” to protect the two-state solution. In January, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken asked the State Department to propose options for recognition of Palestine after the Gaza war. If Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to thwart US attempts to bring the war to an end, a Harris administration might decide to take the leap, leaving the UK in the dust.

We are well past the point where declarations of support for a two-state solution carry any weight. While the UK continues to await an elusive peace process, Gazans are starving, Israeli hostages are dying, support for Hamas may be growing, and Mr Netanyahu’s intransigence is solidifying. Micheal Martin, Ireland’s Foreign Minister, could not have said it better: “It is imperative we act now.”

This is the moment to fulfil the Labour manifesto’s promise “to strengthen Britain’s influence abroad” and recognise Palestine, not as a symbolic gesture but as a step that will contribute to the irreversibility of the two-state solution and shepherd the parties towards negotiations on a more level playing field in which they enjoy parity of esteem. Instead of waiting for a peace process to generate recognition, the UK must implement recognition as a way to generate a peace process.

Dr Alon Liel is the former director general of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and former Israeli ambassador to South Africa

Ilan Baruch is Israel’s former ambassador to South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe

Susie Becher is communications director at the Policy Working Group in Israel