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The Independent
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Starmer cabinet split as PM facing ‘overwhelming pressure' to recognise Palestinian state immediately
Speculation is mounting that Keir Starmer is close to agreeing to officially recognise a Palestinian state, with pressure from inside Labour described as 'overwhelming'. The prime minister is set to hold a call with fellow E3 leaders – French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Friedrich Merz – today to discuss the crisis in Gaza amid growing fears of mass starvation being caused by the Israeli blockade on food and aid supplies. But it has been overshadowed by France's decision to recognise Palestine, adding to pressure from divisions within Sir Keir's own cabinet for the UK to follow suit. It comes as Sir Keir used his strongest language yet on the worsening crisis in the embattled enclave, describing the actions by Benjamin Netanyahu as 'unspeakable and indefensible'. Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood, who came close to losing her seat to a pro-Gaza independent MP in last year's general election, and several other cabinet ministers want immediate recognition of Palestine as a state. But it is being claimed there is resistance from cabinet ministers closely linked to the Labour Friends of Israel (LFI) group, whose members include Chancellor Rachel Reeves. Another senior minister linked to LFI, technology secretary Peter Kyle, also made the case for not recognising a Palestinian state immediately during broadcast rounds on Friday morning. He insisted: 'The timeline for peace and stability and a negotiated solution to the war that's currently unfolding and ultimately Palestinian statehood is in the gift of Palestine and Israel themselves. It cannot be imposed from the outside.' One senior Labour figure told The Independent that 'the pressure feels overwhelming' on the prime minister to recognise Palestine. And Labour's biggest financial backers, the trade unions, have reiterated their demands through the TUC for immediate recognition of Palestine as well as the suspension of a trade agreement with Israel. It comes after a majority of members on the powerful Foreign Affairs Select Committee in the Commons have also issued a report overnight demanding immediate recognition of a Palestinian state. Added to that, the emergence of Jeremy Corbyn's new party, which has the support of pro-Gaza independent MPs poses a major problem for Sir Keir. There is now speculation within Labour that Sir Keir may go ahead with recognition after he meets Donald Trump in Scotland on Monday, to ensure that the bilateral with the US president is not derailed by the issue. The US has overnight condemned France for 'rewarding terrorism' by recognising a Palestinian state. Speaking out against the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza, which has seen 45 people die from starvation in four days, Sir Keir edged closer to agreeing to formal recognition of Palestine as a state. In a statement on Thursday night, he said: 'We are clear that statehood is the inalienable right of the Palestinian people. 'A ceasefire will put us on a path to the recognition of a Palestinian state and a two-state solution which guarantees peace and security for Palestinians and Israelis.'
Telegraph
20-07-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Recognising Palestine will consign Britain and France to total irrelevance
The current warmth between Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron may have opened the door to greater co-operation between France and the UK, but the Prime Minister must resist the French president's ardent desire for the entente amicale to extend to premature recognition of the state of Palestine. Announcing an annual national day of commemoration for Alfred Dreyfus (the Jewish army captain wrongly imprisoned for treason in 1894) last week, President Macron had the audacity to warn of the 'demons of anti-Semitism' while urging his Western allies to join him in entrenching an anti-Israel bias that would supercharge those demons. It is barely believable that any liberal democracy would think that this could be the moment to reward the terrorist regime and its proxies by recognising the state of Palestine – before any peace deal or path to stability is agreed, and while the region is a tinderbox and the butchers of October 7 2023 are still keeping hostages from their families after the horrendous mass murder and rape of Jewish civilians. Yet that is precisely what Macron is continuing to press on Sir Keir. The Prime Minister deserves credit for resisting so far. But the fact that France is stepping up the campaign for recognition, rather than stepping back, continuing to lobby the UK and the EU, shows that Starmer must go beyond privately saying 'pas encore' to this absurdly damaging suggestion. To be clear, as a former chairman of Labour Friends of Israel, I am deeply committed to the ultimate goal of two sovereign states, Israel and Palestine, living securely and independently at peace. The alternatives are either a greater Israel with no justice for Palestinians, or the terrorists' goal of wiping Israel off the map completely. Both are unconscionable. But it is post-empire arrogance to think that countries such as the UK and France, looking in from the outside, can short-circuit the process by officially recognising Palestine as a state without any agreement between the people who will have to live side by side and make it work. Announcing recognition like this will not make Starmer and Macron key players in the push for peace. The gesture would do the opposite; it would indefinitely sideline France and Britain from the difficult discussions ahead in the Middle East after many years in which their friendship with Israel had made the countries genuinely influential in this vital area. The consequence of recognising Palestine now, in the shadow of a conflict triggered by the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, would do more damage than just making the UK seem weak and ineffective on the international stage. It would be seen as Britain rewarding the Islamist terrorists of Hamas and Hezbollah, and bolstering their Iranian puppet masters, who are dedicated to exporting violence and anti-Semitism to undermine our liberal freedoms in the West. It is wrong to view any international diplomacy through the prism of the impact it will have on the government's domestic standing with voters. Leaders need to lead on the international stage and act in the UK's long-term strategic interest, not be buffeted by ever-changing opinion polls on intractable global issues. So Labour should ignore siren voices urging it to recognise Palestine to win back discontented Muslim voters in communities where the rise of Gaza-focused independent politicians is a genuine electoral threat. If party strategists are weighing up the domestic impact of any change on Labour's policy towards Palestine, they must bear in mind that the political backlash will surely outweigh the benefits. The Jewish community in Britain may be relatively small and contain a wide variety of views on Israel-Palestine, but Sir Keir should not underestimate how many British Jews will feel deeply disappointed in him if he makes this gesture on recognition now. Particularly after he has worked so hard to restore trust in Labour after the appalling anti-Semitism that stained the party during Jeremy Corbyn's leadership. It is true that many Jews in Britain are dismayed by the increasingly hardline policies of the Netanyahu government and the scale of destruction in Gaza. That does not mean they will accept or forgive a futile diplomatic gesture on recognition that will be treated as a victory by Hamas. And the domestic blowback of a Labour Government recognising Palestine now will not end there. The solutions to conflict in the Middle East may not be top of the priority list of many white working-class voters in towns such as Barrow-in-Furness, which I used to represent in the House of Commons. But sure as hell those Red Wall voters will hate the idea that Labour is being swayed by the crowds they see marching for Gaza, with all the extremism on display in those protests. That is exactly what they will be told by Nigel Farage and his new army of Reform councillors in key electoral battlegrounds if Labour moves its position. And just as Hamas would be emboldened by the sense their actions have results, so would the organisers of the marches feel their aggressive tactics have been vindicated – encouraging fresh militancy. Decisions facing leaders on international affairs are often delicately balanced. Prematurely recognising the state of Palestine should not be one of those decisions. The Prime Minister is showing strength and deft judgment on other security issues, such as Ukraine and the need for rearmament. He should reject this nonsense and sideline anyone around him who is urging him down this path.
The Independent
03-06-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Starmer urged to keep pledge on backing Israel-Gaza peace initiative based on path to Good Friday Agreement
Keir Starmer is being urged to keep to a pledge to support a new international coalition to 'scale up' the peace process in the Middle East as the crisis in Gaza deepens. At a major conference on the conflict last December, the prime minister said he would bring together countries to back the project that is based on an initiative that brought peace in Northern Ireland. Then, in February, Downing Street and the Foreign Office held meetings with figures behind the coalition - The International Fund for Israeli-Palestinian Peace (IFIPP) - which would bring together people on both sides of the conflict for a two-state solution. Now a paper by Labour Friends of Israel (LFI), seen by The Independent, has made the case for the plan again. It comes as the row over the way Israel is controlling aid to Gaza has intensified. The United Nations is demanding an investigation into the deaths of 27 Palestinians shot dead while trying to collect aid at one of the hubs created by Israel. The IFIPP peace project is based on the International Fund for Ireland (IFI), an instrument that helped shape the societal and political conditions leading to the Good Friday Agreement. The prime minister knows about the impact of the IFI having served as human rights adviser to the Northern Ireland Policing Board, which supervises the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), from 2003 to 2007. In the role, he worked to ensure that the PSNI was compliant with its obligations under the 1998 Human Rights Act in the wake of the Good Friday Agreement. IFI began its work in the late 1980s, when Northern Ireland's Troubles were at their worst, but by pooling resources and bringing together peacemakers and young people from both communities they were able to lay the foundation for the agreement in 1999. Now Sir Keir is under pressure to go through with his pledge made at the annual LFI lunch in December to bring together the international community to back the equivalent project aimed at ending the conflict in the Middle East. The LFI's new policy paper entitled "Laying the Foundations for a Two-State Solution: An International Fund for Israeli-Palestinian Peace" makes the strategic and financial case for the establishment of a dedicated multilateral fund to support Israeli-Palestinian peacebuilding efforts and calls on the UK government to take a leadership role in its creation. The paper argues that donor states – including the EU, UK and Norway, which contribute around 60-70 percent of non-military aid to those impacted by the conflict – should pool their resources in order to pack more punch for their spending. It states: 'No single donor, especially with shrinking budgets, can alone shift the trajectory of the Israeli- Palestinian conflict. 'By pooling their limited resources into a dedicated multilateral fund, such as the International Fund for Israeli-Palestinian Peace, these states could scale up peacebuilding efforts tenfold without spending more. Such a fund would protect civil society from political volatility, align fragmented donor strategies and finally ensure funding matches the scale of the problem.' On Sir Keir's commitment to host an inaugural meeting of the fund, the paper also calls for the government to use that meeting to announce an initial UK funding commitment, paired with matching pledges or political endorsements from partner governments. 'British leadership will be key to unlocking coordinated international momentum,' it argues. The paper is authored by John Lyndon, executive director of the Alliance for Middle East Peace (ALLMEP), and features a contribution by Rev Dr Gary Mason, Methodist minister and director of Rethinking Conflict, who draw on lessons from the Northern Ireland peace process. LFI chair Jon Pearce said: "I've met inspiring young Israeli and Palestinian peacebuilders who are working together to build trust across divides even in the darkest times. They are not giving up on the hope of a more peaceful tomorrow, and neither should we. We must stand shoulder to shoulder with them and support their vital work through an International Fund for Israeli-Palestinian Peace. 'Civic society is stepping in where leaders are failing: creating the conditions for peace, laying foundations for political agreements, and keeping the flame alive when everything else seems impossible. 'The prime minister's commitment at last year's LFI annual lunch to host an inaugural meeting in London was a moment that gave these peacebuilders real hope. Britain has the skills and credibility to lead this effort - and after spending time with the incredible peacebuilding community, I know we must."
