Canada, UK, Australia Formally Recognize Palestinian State
A Palestinian flag flies as people walk along Gaza’s coastal al-Rashid Street to cross the Netzarim corridor from the southern Gaza Strip.
(Bloomberg) — Canada, the UK and Australia have formally recognized a Palestinian state, aligning themselves with European allies and pushing ahead with a policy that has drawn criticism from US President Donald Trump.
The Canadian and Australia governments announced the move in separate statements on Sunday, calling it a “co-ordinated international effort” toward a two-state solution. Prime Minister Keir Starmer subsequently announced the UK was joining in the effort in a video statement.
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“While Canada is under no illusions that this recognition is a panacea, this recognition is firmly aligned with the principles of self-determination and fundamental human rights reflected in the United Nations Charter, and the consistent policy of Canada for generations,” according to the statement by Prime Minister Mark Carney’s office.
Starmer, Carney and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese are following through on pledges made previously to join allies including France in recognizing Palestine. Others are also expected to take the step against the backdrop of United Nations General Assembly meetings in New York starting this week, joining 147 of 193 member states that have already granted Palestinian statehood.
The Canadian prime minister won election earlier this year on a pledge to strengthen ties with European partners and reduce Canada’s security and economic dependence on the US. When Carney vowed to recognize Palestine in July, Trump said it would threaten Canada’s ability to reach a trade deal with his country.
Carney said at the time that the recognition was predicated on the Palestinian Authority’s commitment to reforms, including that elections be held in 2026 without the involvement of Hamas and that the state be demilitarized. The Palestinian Authority has provided those direct commitments to Canada and the international community, his office noted on Sunday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reacted with fury to the plans to recognize Palestine, arguing that it “rewards Hamas’s monstrous terrorism” and “punishes its victims,” and warning that a “jihadist state on Israel’s border” will pose a grave threat. Recognition harms efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and a framework for the release of hostages, Israel has said.
Ahead of the announcements, Netanyahu said on Sunday Israel will have to fight both at the UN and in all other arenas against the false propaganda against the country, and reiterated that calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state that will endanger its existence and reward terrorism.
Developments — including the accelerated building of settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, violence against Palestinians, the humanitarian disaster in Gaza as well as the Oct. 7 terrorist attack committed by Hamas — have severely undermined the potential for a two-state solution, Carney’s office said.
Canada’s recognition in no way detracts from the nation’s unwavering support for Israel’s security, which can only be guaranteed in the long term through a comprehensive peace agreement, according to the statement.
Starmer said on Sunday his government believes the situation has worsened significantly in recent weeks and that the situation in Gaza is “utterly intolerable.” Israel is moving ahead with a long-threatened ground operation into the heart of Gaza City after weeks of air strikes.
Britain’s demands on Hamas remain even as it presses ahead with recognizing a Palestinian state. The government is calling for the group, which is proscribed as a terrorist organization by the UK, US and EU, to release all hostages, sign on to a ceasefire, disarm and accept they will play no part in the government of Gaza. It also expects to take further action to sanction senior figures in the Hamas leadership in coming weeks.
“In the face of the growing horror in the Middle East, we are acting to keep alive the possibility of peace and a two-state solution,” Starmer said.
While Britain has been expected to make the move as Israel hasn’t met conditions imposed by Starmer in July, officials waited until after Trump’s recent state visit to avoid a political clash. The US president said Thursday that he has a “disagreement” with Starmer over the policy, but didn’t urge the prime minister to reconsider.
Diplomats behind the scenes have been working to limit the fallout with the Trump administration. A Canadian official briefing reporters said the government has had “many exchanges” with the US in recent weeks and the policy is “well understood” by the Americans. The person also emphasized that Canada and the US share the same overall objective of peace in the Middle East.
French President Emmanuel Macron has led the way on the plan to recognize Palestinian statehood. France and Saudi Arabia are set to co-chair a conference on a two-state solution in New York on Monday, where Carney is expected to speak. Still, the decisions by Japan and Germany not to recognize the state has dealt a blow to the effort.
The UN’s role in the establishment of a two-state solution can be traced back to a 1947 General Assembly vote for the creation of two states, one Jewish and one Arab, in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine. Subsequent decades of conflict in the region led to the Oslo Peace Accords — a process started in the early 1990s to create a framework for mutual recognition between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization that grew into a plan for a Palestinian state.
Netanyahu himself accepted the state in a 2009 speech in Israel, and in 2011 told the US Congress that the Palestinian state needed to be “big enough to be viable, independent and prosperous.”
But he and Israel have moved firmly away from that conviction over the past dozen years, arguing that the Palestinians aren’t willing to accept Israel as a Jewish state and that they’ve increased their embrace of Hamas, which is backed by Iran and seeks Israel’s destruction. Israel has also become more religious and right-wing, building Jewish settlements throughout the West Bank, pushing a viable Palestinian state further away.
–With assistance from Ethan Bronner, Alisa Odenheimer, Rachel Lavin and Curtis Heinzl.
(Updates with statements from Australia and UK throughout.)
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