UK set to recognise Palestinian state, Lammy says aim is to help two-state solution

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By Catarina Demony

LONDON (Reuters) -Prime Minister Keir Starmer is expected to announce on Sunday Britain’s recognition of a Palestinian state in a break with long-standing policy despite stiff opposition from Israel and disapproval from the United States, the UK’s closest ally.

Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy confirmed that Starmer would announce his decision later on Sunday and said any recognition should be seen as part of a peace process leading to an eventual two-state solution.

A number of other countries including France, Canada, Australia and Belgium are also expected to formally recognise a Palestinian state this week at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

“Any step to recognise (a Palestinian state) is because we wish to keep alive the prospects of a two-state solution,” Lammy told Sky News.

NO GAZA CEASEFIRE, SAYS LAMMY

Starmer said in July that Britain would recognise Palestine unless Israel reached a ceasefire with Hamas, let more aid into Gaza, made clear there would be no annexation of the West Bank, and committed to a peace process delivering a two-state solution – a Palestinian state co-existing alongside Israel.

“Since that announcement in July, in fact, with the attack on Qatar, a ceasefire at this point lays in tatters, and the prospects are bleak,” Lammy said, adding that Israel had also moved forward with a settlement plan.

Lammy later told the BBC: “Do we say we have to wait for the perfect conditions before we can recognise a Palestinian state… Do we say to them: ‘No you cannot have that Palestinian state that is your dream’?”

When asked whether recognising a Palestinian state would be “good news” for Hamas, Lammy said it was important to draw a distinction between the militant Islamist group that has been running Gaza and the Palestinian people.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday during a state visit to Britain that he disagreed with Starmer’s plan to recognise a Palestinian state. Starmer said he and Trump had agreed on the “need for peace and a road map” in the region.

Britain will join more than 140 other members of the United Nations which have recognised a Palestinian state. But its decision carries symbolic weight as Britain has long been a key ally of Israel and played a key role in its creation as a modern nation in the aftermath of World War Two.

(Reporting by Catarina Demony, Andrew MacAskill and Alistair Smout;Editing by Hugh Lawson and Gareth Jones)