UK set to recognize Palestinian state despite opposition from the US

LONDON — The U.K. is expected to recognize a Palestinian state later Sunday despite opposition from the U.S., after judging that Israel has not met conditions it set over the war in Gaza.

Though the anticipated move is largely symbolic, the U.K. hopes that it could increase diplomatic pressure for an end to the conflict in Gaza as well as help pave the way for a long-lasting peace.

Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy, who was foreign secretary until earlier this month, said an announcement on the recognition of a Palestinian state will come later Sunday from Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

“Any decision to recognize a Palestinian state, if that were to take place later on today, does not make a Palestinian state happen overnight,” he told Sky News.

He suggested that recognition would help keep the prospect of a two-state solution alive, and stressed that identifying the Palestinian people with Hamas was mistaken.

In July, in the wake of intense pressure within his governing Labour Party, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said 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.

The anticipated move comes ahead of the U.N. General Assembly this week, where other nations, including Australia, Canada and France, are also readying to recognize a Palestinian state.

The U.K.’s recognition of a Palestinian state comes just days after a state visit from U.S. President Donald Trump, during which he voiced his disapproval of the plan.

“I have a disagreement with the prime minister on that score,” Trump said. “It’s one of our few disagreements, actually.”

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 and terrorism.

Starmer has insisted that Hamas will have no role in the future of the governance of the Palestinian people and must release the Israeli hostages it still holds from the attacks on Oct. 7, 2023.

More than 140 countries have already taken the step to recognize a Palestinian state, but the decisions by France and Britain are significant as they are both members of the Group of Seven and the U.N. Security Council.

The two countries have a historic role in the politics of the Middle East over the past 100 years, having carved out 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.

Lammy, who will represent the U.K. at the U.N. this week, said in July that this had not been upheld and represented “a historical injustice which continues to unfold.”

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, U.K. officials have become increasingly worried that such a solution is becoming all but impossible – not only because of the razing of Gaza and displacement of most of its population during nearly two years of conflict, but because Israel’s government is 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 as illegal.