Two blocks from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence in West Jerusalem, where Balfour and Gaza streets meet behind layers of steel barricades and weekly pro-hostage rallies, a tiny corner-side cafe, oddly unnamed and half-hidden, buzzed with mid-morning chatter.
As phones lit up with news that United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer had announced formal recognition of a Palestinian state, a few patrons looked up, while others shrugged.
