Would UK recognition of Palestine be “a diplomatic earthquake”?
JVL Introduction
Seventy five percent of the UN’s 193 member nations recognise Palestine as a sovereign state. The UK is not one of them – a situation that Alon Liel, former director general of Israel’s foreign ministry, wants to see changed. In this exclusive interview with Middle East Eye, Liel says British recognition would be “a diplomatic earthquake” that could bring Israel to the negotiating table despite its entrenched opposition to Palestinian sovereignty.
Citing British responsibility for the Balfour Declaration and the situation left behind at the end of the Mandate in 1948, Liel believes the UK is “uniquely placed” to help bring about a Palestinian state, and thus the prospect of peace and an end to occupation.
The MEE interviewer raises the question that will occur to many Palestinians and their supporters – is this not just a re-iteration of the “two-state” solution widely seen as unachievable given the spread of illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestine territories? We would add that the idea of an inevitably weak Palestinian state alongside a powerful, militarised, ethno-nationalist Zionist neighbour, is increasingly seen as a distraction from the struggle for self-determination for all the people of historic Palestine.
NWI
This article was originally published by Middle East Eye on Fri 24 Jan 2025. Read the original here.
Former senior Israeli diplomat says UK support would secure Palestinian statehood
Alon Liel, former director general of the Israeli foreign ministry, tells MEE that countries are ‘afraid of confronting Israel’
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Essential and long overdue but sadly unlikely at present
We may remember that Ed Milliband put forward recognition of Palestine as Labour policy when he was leader. Some MPs opposed and resigned from his shadow cabinet: eg Sarah Sackman, who is now a Minister under Starmer. Commitment to even a tenuous two-state solution , a longstanding shibboleth, now seems to be tenuous given that Lammy and Starmer are so busy disappearing up Trump’s bottom.
Jeremy Corbyn as leader also intended to recognise Palestine, something for which he had been campaigning for years. Starmer’s back-story rules this out: one of the most unprincipled leader the party has had, still selling vital parts for F-35s to Israel so as to better both Netanyahu’s ‘mission’ and Trump’s thoughtfully expressed desired ‘clean out’ of Gaza.