Cabinet ministers have urged Keir Starmer to immediately grant the UK’s recognition of Palestine as a state amid global outrage over Israel’s killing of starving civilians in Gaza.
Multiple senior ministers have reportedly pressed the PM during cabinet discussions over recent months, urging him to take a leading role in recognising Palestinian statehood.
The UK government has previously expressed its intention to recognise Palestine as part of a larger peace initiative but insists this will happen alongside other Western nations, such as the United States.
Despite this, according to the Guardian, frustration has been growing among Labour cabinet members.
“We say that recognising Palestinian statehood is a really important symbol that you can only do once. But if not now, then when?” said one cabinet minister.
In recent days, the foreign secretary has said he feels “sickened” by the situation in the Middle East.
David Lammy said: “I feel the same as the British public: appalled, sickened.
“These are not words that are usually used by a foreign secretary who is attempting to be diplomatic, but when you see innocent children holding out their hand for food, and you see them shot and killed in the way that we have seen in the last few days, of course Britain must call it out.”
However, he suggested the UK wasn’t ready to recognise a state of Palestine.
It’s because we don’t just want to recognise symbolically, we want to recognise as a way of getting to the two states that sadly many are trying to thwart at this point in time,” he told the BBC.
“But there is a live debate and discussion and let me restate again my belief in two states, and two states in which Palestinians have their dignity and freedom and Israel has its security for its people. We will do all we can to achieve that in time.”
Health secretary Wes Streeting denounced Israel’s attacks yesterday, arguing they “go well beyond legitimate self-defence”.
“I deplore Israel’s attacks on healthcare workers as well as other innocent civilians trying to access healthcare or vital aid. These actions go well beyond legitimate self-defence and undermine the prospects for peace,” he told MPs in the Commons.
“I sincerely hope that the international community can come together, as the foreign secretary has been driving towards, to make sure that we see an end of this war but also that we recognise the state of Palestine while there is a state of Palestine left to recognise.”