The UK Will Make Middle East Navigation Harder by Recognizing Palestine as a State Starmer dodged Trump in London but still backed UK recognition of Palestine—moves critics say reward Hamas and endanger Israel’s security. By Fred Fleitz
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer thought he could avoid a public spat with President Trump during his two-day visit to the UK by postponing his government’s controversial decision to recognize Palestine as a state until after Trump left the country. Although Starmer avoided a confrontation with President Trump over this issue, the president expressed his strong disagreement with the prime minister at a press conference before he departed.
A total of 23 European states will have recognized Palestine as a state by the end of September. Most recognitions were before 2015. Five occurred last year: Armenia, Ireland, Norway, Slovenia, and Spain. This month will see four more: Belgium, France, Italy, and the UK.
France, Italy, Spain, Germany, the UK, and other European states also voted for a non-binding UN General Assembly resolution on September 12 that overwhelmingly passed and endorsed a two-state solution with a Palestinian state based on pre-1967 borders and East Jerusalem as its capital.
Israel and the U.S. believe that the UK and other states recognizing Palestinian statehood and endorsing the two-state solution are very harmful to the peace process at a time when Hamas is refusing to negotiate in good faith to implement a cease-fire or to end the war.
The decisions by European governments to recognize Palestinian statehood also ignore Israel’s grave security concerns.
It is worth noting that the Palestinians did have their own state in Gaza after Israel withdrew from the territory in 2005 until Israel invaded following the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre. Hamas took over the Gaza Strip in 2007 and used it to attack Israel in the years that followed, with over 20,000 rockets and mortars. Hamas staged the October 7 massacre against Israel from Gaza, involving about 6,000 militants and killing more than 1,100 Israelis, including many children. An additional 251 Israelis were taken hostage.
Israel invaded Gaza after the Hamas massacre to destroy Hamas and free Israeli hostages. The massacre also led Israeli officials to declare that the two-state solution and the idea of a Palestinian state were dead for the foreseeable future until security threats from the Palestinians can be resolved and the Palestinians are deradicalized.
Israeli officials have also been clear that it will never again allow Gaza to be ruled by Hamas or become a terrorist haven to conduct more attacks against Israel.
Many Western leaders initially agreed with the Israeli government’s response to the October 7 massacre and its decision to invade Gaza to destroy Hamas. However, over time, these leaders’ resolve to stand with Israel weakened due to negative press coverage, pressure from the anti-Israel Left, and Hamas propaganda.
Over the last two years, several weak Western leaders sided against Israel and endorsed a Palestinian state as a way to end the war, largely in response to constant media criticism of Israel. They chose to ignore not just Israel’s security concerns but also the Palestinian leadership’s consistent rejection of Israeli offers for a Palestinian state.
For example, the Palestinian leadership rejected statehood offers in 1947, 2000, 2008, and 2009. This included the 2000 Camp David Summit, which offered a Palestinian state in all of Gaza and 91–94% of the West Bank, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and the 2008 Olmert-Abbas talks, which would have given the Palestinians 93–94% of the West Bank and all of Gaza.
The Palestinian leadership and Hamas also rejected President Trump’s January 2020 peace agreement, known as the “Deal of the Century,” which would have given the Palestinians $50 billion in international investment and a Palestinian state composed of 70% of the West Bank plus Gaza. Hamas would not have been permitted to rule Gaza under this plan and would have been required to disarm and release all of its hostages.
Given the Palestinian leadership’s repeated rejection of multiple offers for statehood, growing security threats in the West Bank, and Hamas’s refusal to negotiate in good faith, it makes no sense for Western states to pressure Israel into accepting a Palestinian state while it is at war with Hamas.
The reality is that the Palestinians will not accept peace until they achieve a Palestinian state through “a one-state solution”—the elimination of Israel.
European leaders also have no clear plan to administer Gaza after the war ends, and have failed to put forward a plan to neutralize Hamas as a military and governing force.
Contrary to European leaders’ assertions that recognizing a Palestinian state will help end the war, granting Hamas and the Palestinian leadership a concession that many states were unwilling to give before the October 7 massacre only rewards Hamas’s terrorism and signals that it can hold out in peace talks for even greater concessions.
This is what Prime Minister Starmer did when he made the absurd statement at the press conference with President Trump that recognition of a Palestinian state must be part of a peace “package” that will lead to a “viable Palestinian state.”
Starmer was dead wrong, and, unfortunately, the UK is choosing to pressure Israel and not Hamas to end the Israel-Hamas War. Like the rest of Europe, Starmer’s position will make it harder to negotiate an end to this war.
President Trump has taken a different and more principled position. Despite enormous pressure from other states, the global Left, and the mainstream media, Trump is standing solidly with Israel and is rejecting demands that it agree to dangerous compromises to end the war, like agreeing to a Palestinian state.
This is yet another reason why President Donald Trump is the most pro-Israel president in American history. President Trump will always stand with Israel, one of America’s closest and most vital allies.
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