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| UK Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs David Cameron |
The UK will consider recognizing a Palestinian state as part of efforts to bring about an "irreversible" peace settlement, the British foreign secretary David Cameron said.
Palestinians must have "a political horizon so that
they can see that there is going to be irreversible progress to a two-state
solution," David Cameron said at a Westminster reception late Monday.
"We should be starting to set out what a Palestinian
state would look like – what it would comprise, how it would work," he
added, according to a BBC report.
Cameron said: "That could be one of the things that
helps to make this process irreversible."
His remarks came before he will make his fourth visit to the
Middle East as foreign secretary, starting in Oman to call for stability over
ongoing Houthi attacks in the Red Sea and an immediate pause in the conflict in
Gaza, according to a Foreign Office statement.
"As that happens, we, with allies, will look at the
issue of recognising a Palestinian state, including at the United Nations. This
could be one of the things that helps to make this process irreversible,"
Cameron said.
The foreign secretary reiterated his call on Israel to allow
more humanitarian support into Gaza and said it was "ludicrous" that
vital aid was being sent back at the border.
`This is historic'
In his first reaction to Cameron's remarks, Husam Zomlot,
the Palestinian envoy to the UK, said on X: “This is historic. It is the first
time a U.K. Foreign Secretary considers recognising the State of Palestine,
bilaterally and in the UN, as a contribution to a peaceful solution rather than
an outcome.”
Zomlot said that the UK's recognition is both "a
Palestinian right and a British moral, political, legal, and historical
responsibility."
"If implemented, the Cameron Declaration would remove
Israel’s veto power over Palestinian statehood, would boost efforts toward a
two state outcome, and would begin correcting the historic injustice inflicted
on the Palestinian people by colonial Britain’s Balfour declaration,"
Zomlot wrote on X.
The Israeli onslaught in the Gaza Strip, launched after the
Oct. 7 cross-border offensive by the Palestinian group Hamas, has killed more
than 26,000 people, besides causing mass displacement, destruction and risk of
famine.
Israel has continued with its attacks despite an interim
ruling by the International Court of Justice to prevent acts of genocide in
Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also reiterated his opposition to
the two-state solution.
Tensions in the Middle East are high with several
overlapping crises. Besides Israel’s war on Gaza and its exchange of fire with
Hezbollah in Lebanon, Houthis are targeting Israel-linked commercial ships in
the Red Sea in support of the Palestinians, and the US and allies are
conducting retaliatory strikes. Attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria have
also increased.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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