Sir Keir Starmer will lobby Donald Trump over the deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza when he meets the US President in Scotland next week – as Cabinet pressure grows on the Prime Minister to recognise the Palestinian state.
In his boldest comments yet, Starmer said: “Statehood is the inalienable right of the Palestinian people. A ceasefire will put us on a path to recognition of a Palestinian state and a two-state solution which guarantees peace and security for Palestinians and Israelis.”
Several Cabinet ministers are calling for a shift in Downing Street’s stance on the issue of officially recognising the state of Palestine in response to harrowing scenes from Gaza of starvation and civilians killed while queuing for food.
On Thursday evening, President Emmanuel Macron added pressure on Starmer by announcing that France would become the first G7 nation to recognise Palestine as a state. Posting on X, Macron said he would formalise the “solemn” decision at the UN General Assembly in September, saying “there is no alternative”.
More than 100 humanitarian groups have called for an end to Israeli “restrictions, delays, and fragmentation” for food aid in Gaza.
Agencies described seeing colleagues “waste away before their eyes” and adults “collapsing on the streets from hunger and dehydration”.
Recognition by the UK would largely be a symbolic gesture – but a powerful one in signalling to Israel the desire for a two-state solution and opposition to Gaza being subsumed into Israel.
It would put moral pressure on Israel and signify a significant shift in the stance of the UK, which has tended to be largely supportive of Israel. It would, however, damage relations with the Israeli Government.
In May when Sir Keir Starmer criticised the amount of aid being let into Gaza and suspended trade talks, Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu told him: “You’re on the wrong side of humanity, and you’re on the wrong side of history.”
The Prime Minister’s position is understood to have shifted further regarding the crisis, along with several European leaders, who are now examining what more can be done to put pressure on Israel, including recognition.
While there are doubts as to whether the US President’s position will change significantly, Starmer is expected to lobby Trump to apply further pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a ceasefire.
The pair are due to meet on Monday while the US President is in Scotland as part of a five-day private visit to his luxury golf resorts at Turnberry in Ayrshire and Menie in Aberdeenshire.
On Friday, the prime minister is due to hold a meeting with the leaders of the E3 – France, Germany and Italy – where he said they “will discuss what we can do urgently to stop the killing and get people the food they desperately need while pulling together all the steps necessary to build a lasting peace.”
The Government has increasingly strengthened its language on recognising a Palestinian state in recent days, which was part of Labour’s general election manifesto.
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the UK supports ‘the Palestinian people having a state of their own’ (Photo: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Anadolu/Getty)Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said on Thursday that the UK “supports Palestinians, we support the Palestinian people having a state of their own”.
Mahmood added: “It is a manifesto commitment for us to recognise a state of Palestine and what we want to do is make sure that that recognition takes place in a way that supports a peace process, which is the thing that we need urgently and above all for the safety and security of the Palestinian people, but also for the people of Israel as well.”
The Cabinet minister insisted that the policy is a “tool that you can only use once” and that it needed to be done as part of the peace process.
Mahmood said that the Foreign Secretary David Lammy and his officials are “working incredibly hard, particularly with their US counterparts” to secure a ceasefire, and she added: “David Lammy, has sent a very clear signal to the Israeli Government that we are deeply, deeply concerned and appalled and outraged at the situation in Gaza and particularly the escalation that we have seen in recent days.”
Growing pressure on Starmer
There is growing pressure on Starmer from within his own Cabinet and elsewhere for recognition. On Tuesday, Health Secretary Wes Streeting called for Palestine to be recognised “while there’s still a state of Palestine left to recognise”.
On Wednesday, more than 30 former ambassadors wrote in an open letter that recognising a Palestinian state would be a “foundational first step towards breaking the deadly status quo”.
And London’s Labour mayor Sadiq Khan called for recognition immediately, saying the scenes in Gaza were “absolutely harrowing”.
Members of a cross-party panel of MPs have added to the growing number of voices calling for immediate recognition of a Palestinian state, warning that the UK is being ignored by Israel.
Dame Emily Thornberry, chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said a “majority” of MPs on the committee backed the demand, as they called for further sanctions against Israeli settlers.
In their report, the MPs said that “some of Israel’s recent actions in Gaza are difficult to justify given the death toll among civilians” and pressure should be put on Tel Aviv “for this conflict to end and for hostages to be released”.
“It seems that the Israeli government is not listening to the UK. And while it listens to the US government, it only does so sporadically,” they said.
On Thursday, the TUC general secretary, Paul Nowak, said that current measures, such as a partial arms embargo and sanctions against some Israeli ministers, were “clearly not working”.
square GAZA I’m a mother of three in Gaza – we are dizzy from hunger
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In a statement, Nowak said the “timeline of horrors” of mass starvation was “happening in plain sight – and the violence shows no sign of abating”.
He added: “Despite growing international condemnation, current measures are clearly not working.
On Thursday, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said the Government is “deeply committed” to recognising a Palestinian state.
The Cabinet member said such a move would have to be meaningful and come as part of a “genuine move towards a two-state solution and a long-term peace settlement” with Israel.
Israel, which cut off all supplies to Gaza from the start of March and reopened it with new restrictions in May, says it is committed to allowing in aid but must control it to prevent it from being diverted by militants.
It says it has let enough food into Gaza during the war and blames Hamas for the suffering of Gaza’s 2.2 million people.
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