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LONDON: The recognition of a Palestinian state by leading Western nations will trigger a sprint toward a two-state solution, the head of the Palestinian mission in London said on Tuesday.
Britain, France, Canada, Australia and Belgium have all said they will recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly later this month, although London could halt the process if Israel eased the humanitarian crisis in war-shattered Gaza and committed to a long-term peace process.
The moves are designed to put pressure on Israel to end its assault on Gaza and curtail the building of new Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, but some question whether recognition is merely symbolic.
“I think it will be the starting gun for what we hope to be a sprint, not even a march, toward implementing the two-state solution, and we are hoping for an active, effective, meaningful role by the United Kingdom,” Husam Zomlot, the head of the Palestinian Mission in London, told Reuters.
Israel, facing a global outcry over its conduct in the Gaza war, has reacted angrily to recognition gestures, saying they would reward Hamas. The Palestinian militant group’s gunmen attacked southern Israeli communities near the border on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mainly civilians, and taking 251 hostages into Gaza, according to Israeli figures. A two-state solution is the idea that the two sides could co-exist in peace alongside each other — a Palestinian state on territory Israel captured in a 1967 war, with the Gaza Strip and West Bank linked by a corridor through Israel.
But the proposal has become less viable over time, as Israel has accelerated the building of Jewish settlements in occupied territory, while the two sides stick to uncompromising positions on core issues including borders, the fate of Palestinian refugees, and the status of Jerusalem.
Zomlot said the move by Britain was significant due to its role in endorsing a “national home for the Jewish people in Palestine” in 1917. He said it was not too late to achieve a two-state solution, and that he hoped the momentum being built at the UN would lead Israel to dismantle its settlements.
“Once we create sufficient pressure — meaningful pressure — I assure you, it is absolutely possible,” he said.
The United Nations’ highest court said in 2024 Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories and its settlements there are illegal and should be withdrawn as soon as possible.
Israel’s right-wing government rules out a Palestinian state and says the territories where settlements have expanded are not occupied in legal terms because they are on disputed lands. It cites biblical and historical ties to those lands.

ISTANBUL: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday urged the United States to “revise” its decision to deny visas to members of the Palestinian Authority to attend the UN General Assembly this month.

A US official on Saturday said that Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas was among 80 officials from his authority who would be denied visas to attend the UN General Assembly, where France is leading a push to recognize a Palestinian state.

The highly unusual decision further aligns President Donald Trump’s administration with Israel’s government, which is fighting a war against Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza.

Israel adamantly rejects calls for the creation of a Palestinian state and has sought to lump together the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority with its rival Hamas which rules Gaza.

Speaking to Turkish journalists on the plane back from China after attending a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Erdogan said the US decision was “not in line with the raison d’etre” of the United Nations.

“We believe that the decision should be revised as soon as possible,” he added.

Erdogan, a vocal defender of the Palestinians, has often slammed Israel for its war on Gaza, accusing the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of committing “genocide” in the Palestinian territory.