The United Kingdom will recognize the state of Palestine if Israel does not accept a high fire in Gaza | International

Keir Starmer has decided to join the growing pressure on Israel, increased by the unbearable famine suffered by Gaza, and announced on Tuesday his intention that the United Kingdom also recognizes the Palestinian state. The British prime minister has tried at all times to maintain a complicated balance in this spiny matter, and this time it has not been different. Starmer has not already presented as an indisputable fact that future recognition of Palestine, but opens the door, with a series of conditions, that the Netanyahu government can reverse that decision.

“The United Kingdom will recognize the State of Palestine in September before the United Nations General Assembly, unless the Israel Government undertakes relevant steps to end the scandalous situation in Gaza, reach a high fire, make it clear that we will not be annexed The BBC.

Starmer’s decision, although very relevant because it is the United Kingdom (the nation that promised a Jewish national home in Palestine under his mandate), lacks the certainty of that adopted by the president of France, Emmanuel Macron, or by the president of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez. In both cases, Palestine recognition was announced as an irreversible fact.

Outputs for Netanyahu

The British prime minister describes a series of exits for the Netanyahu government of flexible interpretation. In spite of the annexationist statements by the most radical and ultra -right -wing members of the Israeli government, there has never been an official abandonment of the commitment of the two states adopted in the Oslo agreements, although in practice it is a reality increasingly hindered by Israel.

In any case, Starmer himself has been responsible for highlighting the importance of a statement that adds much more firmness to a political position regarding the Palestinian-Israeli conflict that had so far been criticized for his lukewarmness. In the ranks of the Labor Party, and among many human rights organizations, the follow -up of the Prime Minister of the Proisraeli position of the White House of Donald Trump and the constant expressions of support to the Jewish State was increasingly incomprehensible.

“The historical position of this government has been that the recognition of the State of Palestine was an inalienable right of the Palestinian people, and that we would recognize the Palestinian State as part of a peace process that led to the solution of the two states,” said the head of the British Executive. “For the intolerable and growing situation in Gaza, and the perspective increasingly far from a solution of two states, it is time to boost this position,” he added.

Pressures of Parliament

About 230 deputies of the British Parliament (Labor, mostly, but also liberaldemocrats, green and at least a dozen conservatives) had given their support to a letter in which Starmer was required to follow in the footsteps of France or Spain and recognize at once the Palestinian state. The prime minister had the opportunity to discuss the matter on Monday, during his meeting in Scotland with Trump.

The situation of famine suffered by the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip has been an aldabonazo in public opinion, to the point that the pressure on Starmer was unavoidable. That is why the prime minister made the decision to urgently gather his ministers, despite the summer holiday recess.

Among the members of his government are many heavyweights fighting in recent months for making a decision like the adopted on Tuesday. Among them, the Vice Prime Minister, Angela Rayner; Interior Minister Yvette Cooper, the Minister of Justice, Shabana Mahmood, the Minister of Energy, Ed Miliband; The culture, Lisa Nandy or Health, Wes Streeting.

Foreign Minister David Lammy, the ultimate head of promoting decisions that the prime minister reluctantly adopted, such as the seizure of the sales of a list of weapons to Israel before the suspicion that they were being used against international legality, has confirmed the decision of his government in New York, where he participated in a United Nations headquarters conference. His words, received with applause, had a tougher and more loaded tone of historical weight than those of the prime minister.

“The rejection of the Netanyahu government to the solution of the two states is unfair. It is morally unfair and wrong from a strategic point of view. It harms the interests of the citizens of Israel, closes the only way to a fair and lasting peace. That is why we are determined to protect the viability of the solution of the two states. Therefore, with the hand of history on our shoulder, the government of his Majesty When the United Nations General Assembly meets here in September, ”Lammy announced.

The minister, however, calm the applause, has tried to define the details of the conditions imposed on Israel so that he can avoid recognition, that of the Palestinian State, which many already see as inevitable. The step taken by Macron has left without many alternatives to the British prime minister.

“Honestly, I trust to see a dramatic improvement that stops suffering, a compromise of high fire and with a diplomatic process. And that none of this is a pause, but a lasting peace. It will be the month that comes when we check if all this is fulfilled,” said Lammy.

Parties in the British opposition, such as liberaldemocrats, welcomed Starmer’s decision, but reproached him for such a relevant step to be used as “negotiating currency”: “The prime minister must begin to put pressure on Israel from right now, with a total embargo on the sales of weapons and with the application of sanctions on members of the Government of Netyahu,” said the leader of the formation.

It was increasingly inexplicable for many of its political allies than Starmer, who began his professional career as a human rights lawyer, and promoted his name with causes such as genocide persecution before an international court of Serbia’s forces, he would be so reticent when pressing Israel. His initial defense of the right of this nation to defend against the attack perpetrated by Hamas on October 7 led him to justify, in a statement that was later forced to rectify, that Israel’s defense forces cut water and electricity in the Gaza Strip as the war measurement of pressure.

In any case, the British leader wanted to point out Hamas’s responsibilities in the current crisis of the Middle East: “There is no equivalence between Israel and Hamas. Our demands regarding Hamas are still the same: they must free all hostages, agree a high fire, they will accept that they will not have any role in the future Gaza Government and disarm,” Starmer said.