The UK’s decision to recognise the state of Palestine if Israel does not meet specific conditions is “disappointing” as it is diluted by the strings around it, according to SDLP leader and MP for Belfast South and Mid Down Claire Hanna.
Yesterday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that Britain will recognise the state of Palestine in September unless the Israeli government takes substantive steps to end the “appalling situation” in Gaza and meets other conditions.
The UK will make an assessment ahead of the UN General Assembly in September as to whether Israel has met these steps.
Mr Starmer took the decision after recalling his cabinet during the summer holidays to discuss a new proposed peace plan being worked on with other European leaders and how to deliver more humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that Britain will recognise the state of Palestine in September unless the Israeli government takes steps to end the situation in Gaza
Responding, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Mr Starmer has rewarded “Hamas monstrous terrorism and punishes its victims”.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Ms Hanna said that recognising the state of Palestine has long been a stated policy of the UK’s Labour Party and the British government.
She said that the UK government has spoken about recognition of Palestinian “at an opportune time for the last two governments, if that opportune time isn’t now, I just don’t see that logic, certainly for the SDLP, it’s a long-held position”.
She said that a bill in Westminster in 2021 did not pass, and unfortunately, it is yet another example where people feel that the UK government have been “just lacking”.
“A day late and a dollar short in terms of their response on Gaza, and I suppose taking something that people see as a right for Palestine and essentially making it sound like a bargaining chip or conditions on it.
“It’s frustrating. Certainly, it would be a positive move, but to put so many strings attached to it is disappointing many people.”
Ms Hanna said that “putting conditions that the Palestinian people can’t meet” and that they have no control over is adding to that further sense of frustration.
Successive British governments have said they will formally recognise a Palestinian state when the time is right, without ever setting a timetable or specifying the necessary conditions.
With warnings that people in Gaza are facing starvation, a growing numbers of MPs in Mr Starmer’s Labour Party have asking him to recognise a Palestinian state to put pressure on Israel.
Asked why the recognition was conditional and how confident he was that a ceasefire could be reached by September, Mr Starmer said the primary aim is to “change the situation on the ground for people who desperately need change”.
Israel said it rejected the decision by the UK prime minister.
Ms Hanna added: “It would be powerful. It’s something, as they say, that we wish to see and have advocated for, but wish to see it done in a fulsome manner, like, for example, France have done, and certainly the way Ireland did some time ago and spoken about its use in keeping hope alive.
“I suppose it is diluted by the sense of strings around it. But yes, it would be very meaningful.
“And I know to many people a two-state solution feels almost Pollyannaish at this point, but it is the only logical way that you can see that those two peoples can live in peace and getting that back on track is more urgent than ever.”
