At today’s second reading of the Palestine Statehood (Recognition) Bill in the House of Lords, Labour peer Lord Katz of Hendon set out why unilateral recognition of Palestinian statehood by the UK, as required by the legislation, would not achieve Palestinian statehood or a two-state solution.
He said: “As a proud progressive Zionist, I believe in the right of Jewish people to national self-determination and that Palestinians have the same right. We all, I hope, share the Government’s policy of a two-state solution. We need to be a strong advocate for that in the region, because too many people there, on both sides of the conflict, now talk only of a one-state solution.
Given the facts on the ground and the legacy of Hamas’s terrorist pogrom on 7 October, together with everything that has followed, I fear it is simply wishful thinking to say that immediate recognition of a Palestinian state, which the Bill advances, would advance the peace process. It might feel like the right thing to do, or indeed a wise diplomatic signal to send, and it might win praise here in the UK, but would it advance peace in the region? Experience of unilateral action suggests not. As we have heard from the noble Baroness, Lady Northover, last year Ireland, Spain and Norway recognised Palestine as a state. Israel recalled its ambassadors to those countries in response. I fear that if we followed those examples then our long-standing locus, through both history and international standing, would be severely impaired—and if that was not true before President Trump’s election then I fear it certainly is now.
Recognition is a card that you can play only once. Timing is everything. As the Oslo accords state, any dispute must be resolved through direct negotiations. Only through such engagement and mutual agreement, which Britain can and must support, will we deliver lasting peace. However, as the noble Baroness, Lady Northover, alluded to, this requires fundamental change on both sides. First, it seems otiose, as others have said, to point out that Hamas simply can never be a partner for peace. But there are also progressive forces in mainstream Israeli politics that are thinking productively as to how best to move forward towards peace from this fragile ceasefire. Yair Golan MK, who is leader of the Democrats—Labor’s sister political party, formed out of Avodah and Meretz—a retired major-general in the IDF and an absolute hero of 7 October, is clear-eyed in his view of the Israeli Prime Minister’s current policy of strengthening Hamas to weaken the PA. Writing in Haaretz on 26 February, Golan said: “The simple truth is that Hamas has survived thanks to Netanyahu and Netanyahu has survived thanks to Hamas”.
He argues that the regional struggle is not about territory so much as one of moderate forces that want stability and prosperity versus extremist forces that want anarchy and terror. Israel should lead that moderate alliance. The UK should urge that moderation on Israel. Would we have the agency to do so if we unilaterally declared Palestinian statehood?
Golan outlines a three-stage progress process towards peace. Time prevents me going into detail, as it prevents me talking about Yair Lapid’s credible alternative, called the Egyptian solution. These are not the awful plans we have heard from President Trump, those shocking pipe dreams for Gaza, but neither are they a counsel of despair. They hold out the prospect of statehood at the right time—not at the end, but not now.
I will conclude by reporting a conversation with a high-ranking official in the Democrats. He asked me to make it clear in this debate that there are indeed Members of the Knesset who have the strong desire to push forward for peace, spearheaded by his party. Because of that, not despite it, my left-wing peacenik friend said that recognition would be a “huge failure of British foreign policy, making the UK totally irrelevant”. We should listen to our partners for peace when they ask us not to do something.”
You can read the full debate here.
