It is a historic moment, triggered by tragedy. At a time when the very future of the Palestinian people is mortally threatened by what the United Nations calls “the worst-case scenario of famine currently playing out in the Gaza Strip”, a British prime minister declares that the state of Palestine will be formally recognised. Most likely, Britain will join with France at the UN General Assembly in September in taking this step, so long in the making.
Yet Sir Keir Starmer was also right to clearly offer the Israeli government – and, to Hamas, additional incentives – to do what they should be doing in any case: to implement an immediate ceasefire and to release all the hostages. If those things should come about – although the record suggests it probably will not in the short-term – then that will in itself represent progress towards peace.
