London – The United Kingdom, Canada and Australia officially recognized Palestine as a state on Sunday, marking a significant change in foreign policy and a step of their alignment with the United States, with several other European and allies of the United States to Follow the same this week.
“Today, to revive the hope of peace for the Palestinians and Israelis, and a state solution of two states, the United Kingdom formally recognizes the state of Palestine,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement.
Canada had become, moments before, the first group of 7 nations to recognize the state of Palestine, since Prime Minister Mark Carney promised a “peaceful future for both the state of Palestine and for the state of Israel.”
The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, issued a statement shortly after formally recognizing “the independent and sovereign state of Palestine.”
The measure is largely symbolic and gives the Palestinians an increase in diplomatic position and the potential for the creation of treaties.
But it does not fundamentally change the realities in the field in the Gaza Strip, where the humanitarian crisis continues to get worse after almost two years of war, or in occupied West Bank, where the Palestinians have had a growing pressure of the Jewish and military settlers.
More than 65,000 people have been killed in Gaza since October 2023, including thousands of children, according to the local Palestinian Ministry of Health, with much of the destroyed territory and the majority of the population expelled from their homes, often several times.
Israeli attacks killed at least 34 people in the city of Gaza during the night, health officials said on Sunday, while Israel advanced with their offensive in the most populous city in the enclave, where hundreds of thousands of people have lived under famine.
It is in that context that a growing list of countries, many traditional sponsors of Israel, have said they will recognize Palestine.
The United Kingdom said in July that it would recognize Palestine as a state unless the Israeli government “takes substantive measures to end the terrible situation” in Gaza, and its official recognition occurs in the midst of increasing international criticisms of Israel about the war in the enclave.
“Given the growing horror in the Middle East, we are acting to keep the possibility of peace and a solution of two states alive,” added Starmer. “That means a safe and safe Israel along with a viable Palestinian state, at this time we have none.”
The decision of Great Britain has angered its close ally Israel, as well as the United States, which argues that emboldened recognition to extremists and reward Hamas, the group that directed the terrorist attacks of October 7, 2023 against Israel that killed some 1,200 people and was taken, marking a great escalation in the conflict of the decades.
The recognition of the United Kingdom is part of a broader change among American allies, bringing them closer to the more than 140 of 193, the UN Member States that have already recognized Palestine as a state.
France is expected to formally declare its recognition of a Palestinian State on Monday at a United Nations Conference in New York co -presided with Saudi Arabia, coinciding with the beginning of the UN General Assembly.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, told the Israeli television channel 12 on Saturday that the nations “have to recognize the legitimate right of the Palestinian people to have a state.”
He also denounced the new land offensive of Israel in the city of Gaza as “absolutely unacceptable” and “a big mistake.”
Portugal also confirmed on Saturday that he would recognize a Palestinian state on Sunday.
Other countries on the edge of recognition include Belgium, Portugal, Luxembourg and New Zealand, which will probably act immediately before or at the UN Special Conference on a solution of two states in New York on Monday.
Spain, Norway and Ireland recognized a state of Palestine last year.
The creation of a Palestinian State refers to the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital. Currently, Israel occupies the West Bank and Gaza, which means that the Palestinian authority does not have total control of its land or people.
The Israeli authorities recently approved a new liquidation project that ultra -nationalist legislators as a death of death for the dreams of the Palestinian state condition.
