Keir Starmer’s announcement this week that the British government has recognised the State of Palestine has been loudly condemned by the most vociferous apologists for Israel’s genocide and apartheid and welcomed by many who hope that it will be a first step towards realising the rights of the Palestinian people including their inalienable right to self-determination. That hope will be misplaced and the government’s assertion that this recognition is not merely symbolic but a statement of intent will prove hollow, unless the government finally acts to remove the obstacles that lie in the way of self-determination being fully realised.
That means ending all of its complicity in Israel’s occupation, its system of apartheid which extends across all of historic Palestine and right now its genocide in Gaza. The Government, even in the aftermath of the UN commission of inquiry last week, which finally prompted figures across the political establishment such as Sadiq Khan and Ed Davey to accept the reality of genocide, is still refusing to acknowledge reality, knowing that to do so would mean it has to embrace its responsibilities as a 3rd party state not to aid and abet the genocide. It has still not responded to or acted upon the ICJ judgement made in July 2024 declaring the illegality of the Occupation and the responsibility of Britain as a 3rd party state not to aid or assist it.
Years ago, the British government should have ended its arms trade with Israel, ended its support of illegal settlements by banning settlement trade and imposed comprehensive sanctions on Israel as PSC has been calling for. Without these actions, state recognition will be seen as little more than a self-serving attempt to deflect mounting public criticism of the British government’s complicity in Israel’s genocide and apartheid.
The Government has also made its recognition conditional, imposing requirements on who governs the Palestinian people. The right of self determination includes the right of a sovereign people to determine the shape of the state that will be the vehicle of exercising self determination, and who will form the government of that state. It is not for external bodies to impose conditions.
Britain’s complicity in Israel’s denial to the Palestinian people of their core rights – to self determination, to return, and not to live as second class citizens on any part of their historic homeland – stretches back decades all the way to the Balfour declaration, which did not even properly acknowledge the existence of such a people, despite the fact that Palestinian Arabs represented 94% of the population, of Palestine. The formal acknowledgment that Palestinians are a people with a right to self determination, may be seen to partially right that wrong. At a moment when the Israeli Government is loudly proclaiming that it will never allow Palestinians to enjoy self determination on any part of their historic homeland, and is openly acting upon plans for their erasure, recognition can be seen as a positive gesture, but it will remain an empty gesture if not accompanied by all of the material steps outlined above.