The United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia recognize the Palestinian state.

LondonA balancing act between a guilty conscience, the United Kingdom's eternal interests, more closely tied than ever to the United States, and an increasingly rebellious public opinion against the ongoing Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip. Prime Minister Keir Starmer formally announced this Sunday, in a pre-recorded video, the recognition of the State of Palestine, an announcement made at the same time as his counterparts from Australia and Canada, members of the Commonwealth. The announcement is part of a wave of similar pronouncements from Israel's traditional allies, which seek to halt the Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu's policy of wiping the Palestinians off the map, while seeking to isolate Hamas and force it into an unconditional surrender of Gaza. Currently, 147 UN member states, including Spain, recognize Palestine. France (the other former colonial power in the Middle East), Belgium, Luxembourg, Portugal, Malta, and possibly New Zealand and Liechtenstein will also join the list.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reacted with a defiant statement: "It will not have been Palestinian. The response to this latest attempt to force us to accept a terrorist state in the heart of our land will be given after I return from the United States." Netanyahu, increasingly isolated internationally, accuses countries that urge recognition of the Palestinians of "rewarding terrorists" and says he is willing to withstand "international and domestic pressure."

For its part, Hamas said in a statement that "recognition is an important step to maintain the right of our Palestinian people to their land and holy sites and to the establishment of an independent state with its capital in Jerusalem," which it describes as "the result deserved by resilience, struggle, and sacrifice," a reference to the right of return of Palestinian refugees. It also urges that this symbolic gesture be accompanied by "practical measures that will lead to an immediate halt to the brutal genocide against our people in Gaza and to confront the plans to Judaize and annex the West Bank and Jerusalem." They demand coordinated international action to bring those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity to justice in international courts."

The Anglo-Saxon recognitions precede those of the rest of the countries that will formalize their support for the Palestinian state, within the framework of the conference sponsors states (a Palestinian state alongside the state of Israel), convened in New York the day before the annual UN assembly begins. 145 countries against five voted in favor of Abbas being able to address the forum by videoconference. control of Gaza, on the path to the creation of this virtual Palestinian state, which Netanyahu has no intention of accepting. London also clarifies that it is "in no case a prize for Hamas." It is a secure Israel and a viable Palestinian state, because at this moment we do not have either of those things," he said, forgetting that, for now, and after two years of continued massacre against the Gaza Strip, plus Tel Aviv's colonial policy in the occupied territories of the West Bank, what is completely unviable is the Palestinian state and the Palestinian state. "They deserve to live in peace, to rebuild their lives, free from violence and suffering," and stressed that this is also "the deepest desire of the British people"

London reaches the decision –with which US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he disagreed.– dragging its feet, after having practically unconditionally supported Tel Aviv despite the atrocities of Netanyahu's military campaign, until only a few months ago it partially suspended the shipment of some types of weapons to Israel.

Britain's historical responsibility

But the current situation is catastrophic, and the United Kingdom's historical responsibility is paramount. Indeed, it was in 1917 that Her Majesty's government issued the Balfour Declaration and promised a "Jewish national home" in Palestine without consulting the Arab majority there. In 1920, London received the British Mandate for Palestine from the League of Nations, which gave it colonial political and administrative control of the territory. As a metropolis, London favored Jewish immigration, harshly repressed Palestinian national aspirations, such as the so-called Great Arab Revolt (1936-1939), and, after World War II and the Holocaust, further limited Jewish settlement throughout the area. British repression weakened Palestinian society. In 1948, London abandoned an ethnically and religiously divided territory, and the Arab-Israeli War began.(1948-1949), immediately after the proclamation of the State of Israel. Something that coincided with Nakba, the forced exile of more than 700,000 Palestinians. Quite possibly, the partition of the territory of Palestine between a Jewish state and an Arab state (which never existed), imposed by the victorious powers of the Second World War at the UN, would not have been possible without the previous British colonial administration.

The words coming out of London, Ottawa, or Canberra do nothing to prevent the escalation of destruction and murder in Gaza, nor the acceleration of settlements in the West Bank. Recognition as an essential step to reopen the path to serious negotiations. Israel is further isolated, but no one is stopping it.