Palestinian Recognition Is a Political Gesture, Not a Strategy
The UK’s diplomatic conditions give needless and risky leverage to Hamas.
Keir Starmer makes an address following an emergency cabinet meeting on Gaza.
Photographer: TOBY MELVILLE/AFPBritain and France, the two countries most responsible for Israel’s creation, are set to punish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government for their abuses in Gaza by recognizing a Palestinian State. Will it make a blind bit of difference to suffering in the strip, or bring the creation of a Palestinian state any closer? Probably not.
These decisions are not as they’re being sold. They aren’t considered foreign policy measures, crafted to push Israel’s government to end the war, flood Gaza with food and medical aid, and kickstart a political process that would give hope for a future settlement. Suspending military aid to Israel might possibly help with that. Threatening to recognize a state of Palestine won’t.