The Foreign Office is under pressure from Labour MPs to recognise a Palestinian state if Emmanuel Macron, the French president, presses ahead with plans to recognise Palestine at an international conference set for June.
France is co-chairing the conference at the UN in New York alongside Saudi Arabia, and Macron has said the conference must be a decisive moment.
Emily Thornberry, the chair of the foreign affairs select committee, said the time was coming for the UK to recognise Palestinian statehood, adding: “We need to do it with friends. We need to do it with the French. There are a lot of other countries sitting back and waiting.”
She said that if the west did not act soon, there would be no Palestine left to recognise.
Chris Doyle, the chair of the Council on Arab-British Understanding (CAABU), also backed the measure, saying it should have been done long ago and that such a step by two permanent members of the UN security council would send a powerful message.
He also said that if the UK did not take this step soon it may be too late since Israel was clearly intent on pressing ahead with the effective annexation of the West Bank.
The CAABU has a strong following among Labour MPs, many of whom are furious with Israel’s behaviour in Gaza. There is also anger that two Labour MPs were banned by Israel from visiting the West Bank last week.
The Foreign Office’s formal position is to say it will recognise Palestine at an appropriate moment of maximum impact, but when David Cameron was foreign secretary he marginally advanced the UK policy by affirming that recognition need not come at the end of a process that leads to a two-state solution. In a reference to Israel, he said no state could have a veto over a UK decision to recognise Palestine.
Macron surprised observers last week when he announced he hoped the June conference would act as a trigger for a group of nations to recognise Palestinian statehood, remarks that put clear diplomatic pressure on the UK to follow the French initiative. He told France 5: “We must move toward recognition [of the Palestinian state] and so, in the coming months, we will.”
He added in a reference to some Gulf states including Saudi Arabia: “I also want to participate in a collective dynamic, which must allow all those who defend Palestine to recognise Israel in turn, which many of them do not do.”
The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman – who has personally accused Israel of genocide against the Palestinians – has said Saudi Arabia will only recognise Israel as part of a pact that includes an irreversible path to a Palestinian state.
Although there is scepticism in some British quarters as to how far Macron is prepared to antagonise Israel, personal and political relations between Keir Starmer and Macron are strong. It will be hard for the Foreign Office to resist a strong French push for Palestine’s recognition, especially if it is seen as part of a European-Gulf peace push.
In May last year France chose not to join Spain, Ireland and Norway in recognising Palestine following an overwhelming vote in favour by the UN general assembly. At present 148 of the 193 member countries of the UN have officially recognised Palestinian statehood. So far no western G20 country, including Canada, Italy or Germany, has taken the step.
The Knesset voted heavily last month against a two-state solution, but the leader of the Israeli opposition, Yair Lapid, still sees a medium-term pathway to it so long as Hamas is not part of any Palestinian government.
European recognition would infuriate the US and Israel, but the French argue an alliance with Gulf states may prompt the Trump administration to recalibrate its support for Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, said on social media: “Unilateral recognition of a fictional Palestinian state … is a reward for terror and a boost to Hamas.”
Faced by the backlash, Macron, writing in Hebrew on the social media site X, claimed he was the victim of a host of unfounded interpretations. He said France’s position was “yes to peace. Yes to Israel’s security. Yes to a Palestinian state without Hamas.”
He wrote: “This requires the release of all hostages, a sustainable ceasefire, the immediate resumption of humanitarian assistance, and the promotion of a two-state political solution. There is no other way but a political solution. I stand for the Palestinians’ legal right to a state and peace, just as I stand for the Israelis’ right to live in peace and security, and while both states are recognised by their neighbours.
“The two-state solution conference in June must be decisive. I am doing everything I can, alongside our partners, to achieve this goal of peace. We need it so much.”
In a sign of the US’s apparent willingness to tolerate the annexation of the West Bank, the US Senate, voting largely along party lines last week, confirmed Mike Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor, as US ambassador to Israel. Huckabee has referred to the West Bank by its Jewish biblical names Judea and Samaria. At his confirmation hearing he claimed Donald Trump did not support the enforced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza.
