UK considering recognising Palestinian state to help end Israel-Hamas war, Lord Cameron says

The UK Government is considering recognising a Palestinian state in a bid to help efforts to end the Israel-Hamas war, Lord David Cameron has said.

He told a reception in London on Monday evening the move would help to make a two-state solution an “irreversible” process, in comments the Palestinian ambassador to the UK described as "significant".

The option of a two-state solution is currently stalled with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposed to it and said he would “not compromise” on Tel Aviv control over Palestinian territories.

Lord Cameron's comments come as he returns to the Middle East on Tuesday, where he will pledge Britain will “do everything” it can to prevent the Israel-Hamas war from “spilling over borders”.

Last week during a meeting in Jerusalem, the foreign secretary pushed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over a two-state solution to bring about peace for both Israeli and Palestinian people.

Mr Netanyahu has rebuffed efforts from allies, including the US, to win his support for the proposal, saying it would “endanger the state of Israel” as he criticised the “attempt to coerce us”.

But in an address to a reception for Arab ambassadors in Parliament on Monday evening, Lord Cameron spelled out how the UK and allies could add to pressure by considering recognising a Palestinian state at the United Nations.

“We should be starting to set out what a Palestinian state would look like – what it would comprise, how it would work,” he said.

“As that happens, we, with allies, will look at the issue of recognising a Palestinian state, including at the United Nations.

“This could be one of the things that helps to make this process irreversible.”

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Palestinian ambassador to the UK Husam Zomlot described Lord Cameron's comments as a “significant” moment.

“It is the first time a UK Foreign Secretary considers recognising the State of Palestine, bilaterally and in the UN, as a contribution to a peaceful solution rather than an outcome,” the diplomat wrote on social media.

“A UK recognition is both a Palestinian right and a British moral, political, legal, and historical responsibility.

“If implemented, the Cameron Declaration would remove Israel’s veto power over Palestinian statehood, would boost efforts toward a two state outcome, and would begin correcting the historic injustice inflicted on the Palestinian people by colonial Britain’s Balfour declaration.”

However, Downing Street said the UK had not changed its approach on the recognition of a Palestinian state.

The prime minister’s official spokesman said: “We’ve always been clear that we will recognise a Palestinian state at a time it best serves the cause of peace and we are committed to the two-state solution.”

This week will be the fourth time the foreign secretary has visited the region since being appointed foreign secretary in November as he presses for a de-escalation of tensions.

Starting in Oman, the senior Conservative peer is expected to call for stability amid Houthi attacks in the Red Sea and an immediate pause in the conflict in Gaza, as he looks to work diplomatically to stop fighting escalating into a wider conflict.

Fresh fears of a western confrontation with Tehran were sparked over the weekend after an attack by Iran-backed militia in Jordan killed three US troops and left dozens injured.

The UK, the US and other allies have looked to police the Red Sea after the Houthis, another Iran-backed rebel group, based in Yemen, began targeting commercial shipping on the vital global trade route in recent months.

The US and the UK launched a second round of joint strikes against the rebels but it appears to have done little to deter the Houthi missiles.

A British-linked oil tanker went up in flames after a strike claimed by the Yemen-based group on Friday, before a further attack on HMS Diamond, a Royal Navy destroyer stationed in the Red Sea, was repelled.

Speaking before his return to the Middle East, Lord Cameron said: “The Houthis continue to attack ships in the Red Sea, risking lives, delaying vital aid getting to the Yemeni people and disrupting global trade.

“And we cannot ignore the risk that the conflict in Gaza spreads, spilling over borders into other countries in the region.

“We will do everything we can to make sure that does not happen – escalation and instability is in nobody’s interests".

The Foreign Office said the Red Sea crisis is likely to form a “major focus” of the former prime minister’s discussions during the trip.

Officials described the visit as an opportunity to advance the foreign secretary’s proposal for a so-called contact group — which he wants to see formed between the UK, the US, key European Union states, Turkey and Gulf and Arab countries — that can use a potential future pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas to “build momentum towards a lasting solution”.

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