Standing in Downing Street today, Keir Starmer looked directly down the barrel of the camera as he made his statement. Each word seemed to hang with the weight he put on it. It was an extraordinary commitment. “I can confirm that the UK will recognise the state of Palestine by the UN General Assembly in September unless the Israeli government takes substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza, agree to ceasefire, and commits to a long-term sustainable peace.”
Perhaps that’s true. Or perhaps Starmer was influenced by French President Emmanuel Macron, who announced recognition last week, or by threats from his own MPs, who have become exasperated by the caution of his administration on the issue.
It indicated that it would uphold an international arrest warrant against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant. It limited arms shipments to Israel. And it placed sanctions on two ministers – Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir. Now it is clearly hoping to leverage the threat of recognising a Palestinian state to force Israel to alleviate conditions in Gaza and commit to progress on a ceasefire and political settlement.
The problem with talk about recognising Palestine is that it simply isn’t clear exactly what it is you would be recognising. The West Bank, under the governance of the Palestinian Authority, has no working relationship with Gaza, under the governance of Hamas. There is no coherent singular body to recognise.
The Starmer approach is rational, well-meaning, legalistic and pragmatic. It is particularly commendable that he announced it after meeting Donald Trump, who may well have demanded that he refrain from doing it.
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Much of the debate online is about whether the Israeli government is committing genocide. This seems a pointless distraction when it is undoubtedly committing ethnic cleansing: the active clearance of a group from a designated geographic area in order to create ethnic homogeneity.
It is the consequence of Netanyahu’s statement when he said he was working to make this plan “a reality”. And it is the consequence of the various statements of Israeli government officials, like finance minister Bezalel Smotrich, who said: “Gaza will be entirely destroyed.” or heritage minister Amichay Eliyahu, who said that “the government is racing ahead for Gaza to be wiped out”.
In that context, it is simply not enough to provide cautious roadmaps to peace. We need even tougher measures, which are commensurate with the scale of the atrocity we are witnessing. If Britain is in the business of discouraging the Israeli government, then it should bring its full arsenal to bear when doing so.
This is the kind of situation which is so severe that countries must do whatever they can to save lives. Today’s announcement was principled and historic. But in a situation this grave, it simply is not enough.
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