Britain, Canada, Australia Join Growing List of Nations Formally Recognizing a Palestinian Nation

On the eve of the Jewish new year, Rosh Hashanah, four more Western nations announced that they will unconditionally recognize Palestine as a nation in hopes of reviving a two-state solution — a move that Israel says rewards terrorism. A day ahead of the annual convening of the United Nations’ General Assembly at Turtle Bay, Australia, Britain, and Canada coordinated the announcement of their recognition. Joined by Portugal on Sunday, the nations added their endorsements to France, Norway, Ireland, Mexico, and several Caribbean nations that have recently recognized a Palestinian state. The announcement comes as a high-level summit is scheduled at the United Nations co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, in which more countries will join the effort to revive talks for a two-state solution.“Canada recognizes the State of Palestine and offers our partnership in building the promise of a peaceful future for both the State of Palestine and the State of Israel,” Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada said on Sunday.“Australia recognises the legitimate and long held aspirations of the people of Palestine to a state of their own,” stated Australia’s prime minister, Anthony Albanese.In a live address, Britain’s prime minister, Keir Starmer, said the “moment has now arrived” for Britain to recognize a Palestinian state. “The hope of a two-state solution is fading but we cannot let that light go out,” Mr. Starmer said.While Mr. Albanese insisted that the decision includes consideration of Israel’s position, stating that “the president of the Palestinian Authority has restated its recognition of Israel’s right to exist,” Mr. Starmer insisted that the decision is the “exact opposite” of rewarding Hamas because Hamas will have no role in government or security. He also called Israel’s war on Hamas “utterly intolerable” and accused the Jewish state of constructing a “manmade humanitarian crisis” caused by “relentless and increasing bombardment,” devastation, and starvation that has led to the death of tens of thousands, including “thousands as they tried to collect food and water.”President Trump last week voiced strong opposition to Britain’s recognition of a Palestinian state, calling it one of the few disagreements between him and Mr. Starmer.In a lengthy statement Sunday, Israel’s Foreign Ministry stated that Israel “categorically rejects the one-sided declaration of the recognition of a Palestinian state made by the United Kingdom and some other countries. This declaration does not promote peace, but on the contrary – further destabilizes the region and undermines the chances of achieving a peaceful solution in the future.”Saying the Palestinian Authority has done nothing to meet any of its obligations, the foreign ministry called it “destructive to separate statehood — one of the final status issues — from peace” and accused the British prime minister of making political gestures to appease “a domestic voting audience.” “In any case, Israel will not accept any detached and imaginary text that attempts to force it to accept indefensible borders,” it added.While recognition by Britain is now a fait accompli, a survey of Britons found that almost 90 percent opposed the prime minister’s decision to recognize Palestine without first placing conditions, including the release of hostages and the elimination of Hamas’s control of Gaza. Overall, just 13 percent supported recognition without any conditions, falling to 11 percent among Mr. Starmer’s Labour voters. Britain’s conservative opposition leader, Kemi Badenoch called the decision “absolutely disastrous.”“We will all rue the day this decision was made. Rewarding terrorism with no conditions whatsoever put in place for Hamas. It leaves hostages languishing in Gaza and does nothing to stop the suffering of innocent people caught in this war,” she wrote on X.“Everything we are seeing is a consequence of a Prime Minister (who) has no plan for the country and no judgement. He will spend the next four years delivering the hobby horses of the Labour left to stay in power and leave a HUGE mess for us to clean up,” she wrote.With 150 nations now supporting the establishment of a Palestinian nation, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said Sunday he will head to the United Nations and to meet with President Trump — his fourth trip to the White House this year — after the holiday, which ends Wednesday night. Last week, the prime minister said he is ready to end the war in Gaza when all hostages are freed, Hamas disarms and its leaders go into exile, and Gaza is fully demilitarized. He added that he will implement the “Trump plan” for Gaza, which he described as voluntary emigration, but critics call ethnic cleansing. “Anyone who calls on us to stop the fighting before these goals are achieved is actually calling for Hamas to remain in power,” he said.Speaking to reporters on Sunday in Ramallah, the Palestinian Authority’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Varsen Aghabekian Shahin, called the recognition “irreversible” and a step toward independence and sovereignty.“This recognition is certainly not symbolic. It is a practical, tangible, irreversible step that countries must take if they are invested in preserving the two-state solution,” Dr. Shahin said.

Britain, Canada, Australia Join Growing List of Nations Formally Recognizing a Palestinian Nation

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