Since the 1990s, every conflict between Israel and Palestinian factions has reignited discussions about the establishment of a long-awaited Palestinian state. Despite being accompanied by goodwill and a multitude of official statements — each driven by the unique political motives of different countries — there has been a lack of a feasible political and temporal framework to realise this goal.
Most recently, British Foreign Secretary Lord David Cameron made a notable statement during a reception for ambassadors from Arab nations. He announced that Britain and its allies would consider recognising a Palestinian state as a part of a concerted effort to achieve an “irreversible” peace settlement.
This initiative aims to support the “two-state solution” and bring an end to the enduring Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian Authority’s ambassador to London, hailed Cameron’s statement as “historic.”
Nearly 107 years after Lord Arthur Balfour, a predecessor of David Cameron, made his significant declaration to create a home country for the Jewish people to replace the British mandate of Palestine, Cameron issued his new statement.
On November 2, 1917, Balfour addressed a letter to a leading British-Jewish figure of the era, Baron Rothschild, which eventually played a part in the creation of the State of Israel following World War II, as the victors divided the territories of the Ottoman Empire.
Irreversible progress
Britain will consider recognising a Palestinian state and achieve an “irreversible progress towards a two-state solution,” Cameron said.
In recent months, Cameron's Conservative Party and its main opposition, the Labour Party, have faced considerable criticism from the supporters of the Palestinian cause in Britain, as they accuse them both of being flagrantly biased towards Israel while ignoring the growing public calls for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Notably, since the start of this year, both Cameron and shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy have publicly stated their support for the idea of paving the way for Palestinian statehood.
This stance comes months before the anticipated parliamentary elections, where foreign policy might become a single-issue politics for some voters.
In recent press statements to British media, Lammy criticised as “unacceptable” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s opposition to the establishment of a Palestinian state in a post-war Gaza and the occupied West Bank. He stated that if the Labour unseated the Conservatives, they would commit to collaborating with UK allies and international partners to realise a “two-state solution.”
An Ipsos poll released on Tuesday shows that Labour is leading by 22 points. (LAB: 49%, CON: 27% and Liberal Democrats third: 7%).
