Starmer says UK will recognize Palestinian state unless Israel agrees
ceasefire, ends Gaza suffering
[July 30, 2025]
By JILL LAWLESS and DANICA KIRKA
LONDON (AP) — The U.K. will recognize a Palestinian state in September
unless Israel agrees to a ceasefire in Gaza, allows the U.N. 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 President Donald Trump during a meeting in
Scotland on Monday.
Trump told reporters on Monday that he didn’t mind Starmer “taking a
position” on Palestinian statehood. On his flight back to the U.S. on
Tuesday, Trump said the two never discussed the U.K. potentially
recognizing a Palestinian state.
“We have no view on that,” Trump said.
Israel rejects the announcement
Starmer said that Britain will recognize 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 U.N. 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 U.K. 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.”
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Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a statement inside
No. 10 Downing Street on the day the cabinet was recalled to discuss
the situation in Gaza, in London, Tuesday, July 29, 2025. (Toby
Melville, Pool Photo via AP)
Growing pressure on Israel
Pressure to formally recognize Palestinian statehood has mounted
since French President Emmanuel Macron announced that his country
will become the first major Western power to recognize 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 recognize 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 recognize 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 U.N. 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 U.K. has a
historic responsibility to recognize 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.
___
Associated Press writers Angela Charlton in Paris, Chris Megerian,
Ibrahim Hazboun, and Farnoush Amiri and Edith Lederer at the U.N.
contributed to this story.
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