Sir Keir Starmer will delay recognition of a Palestinian state under a Labour government because of fears it could undermine Britain’s special relationship with the United States.
The Labour leader has promised to recognise Palestine as part of a wider push to bring about a ceasefire in Gaza and ultimately revive the peace process.
He is under pressure from the left of the party to quickly deliver on this promise, which some see as the correction of a historical wrong given Britain’s role in the creation of Israel.
However, his allies have argued that Labour should not rush into recognising a Palestinian state, since it would isolate Britain from its major allies and open up a dividing line with President Biden early in an expected Starmer premiership, The Times understands.
They believe that Starmer can afford to ignore pro-Palestinian voices on the left given that Labour is on course to win the election with a large majority. They say it would be more prudent to recognise Palestine in co-ordination with other western nations.
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There are 145 countries that recognise Palestine but Britain, France, the US and Germany are not among them. This year the US vetoed full Palestinian membership of the UN.
A source close to Starmer said that British recognition of Palestine was “a process” that would “have the most impact” if done in “co-ordination with allies” but denied that the US position would influence the timing of an announcement.
Campaigning in north London earlier this month, Starmer downplayed the likelihood of recognising a Palestinian state any time soon.
“It has got to be at the right time in the process, because we need a viable Palestinian state alongside a safe and secure Israel,” he said. “We don’t have either of those at the moment, and therefore it has got to be at the point of the process where we could see both of those outcomes.”
In a recent interview with Jewish News, Rishi Sunak accused Starmer of trying to “bully” Israel into recognition of a Palestinian state.
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The prime minister insisted there was no change in the government’s approach towards supporting a two-state solution after Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton, the foreign secretary, suggested a shift in policy when he said recognition of Palestine can’t come “at the start of the process, but it doesn’t have to be the very end of the process.”
“Neither the foreign secretary nor I believe this is the right way with Palestinian recognition, while Israel is not secure,” Sunak told the newspaper. “We would never as Conservatives use such an approach to bully Israel when it faces such great threats to its security.
“Now is not the right moment for Palestinian state recognition, while Israel is not secure.”
Across the world, there has been a growing trend towards recognition of a Palestinian state following the October 7 terror attacks by Hamas and the war in Gaza, which has claimed nearly 38,000 lives.
Spain, Norway and Ireland recognised Palestine earlier this year, prompting Israel to recall its ambassadors in protest. Israeli sources downplayed the likelihood that Israel would react similarly in the event of British recognition of Palestine.
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Polling this week showed that Jewish support for Labour has climbed to 46 per cent under Starmer’s leadership, up from 11 per cent when Jeremy Corbyn was in charge.
However, Labour has lost support among Muslim voters amid anger over a Starmer interview on LBC last year in which the Labour leader appeared to justify cutting off water and food to Gaza. It was on the back of that anger that George Galloway won a by-election in Rochdale in February.
Pro-Palestinian candidates are standing in a number of safe Labour seats at the general election, including in Birmingham, where Shabana Mahmood, the shadow justice secretary, is facing a challenge from Akhmed Yakoob, a lawyer with a large TikTok following.
Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, is facing a campaign by Leanne Mohamad, a British-Palestinian, to unseat him in east London.
Should Labour win the election, as polls suggest, Starmer is likely to face a drumbeat of pressure from the left of the party over Britain’s relationship with Israel, including on issues such as arms sales.
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David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary, recently reiterated Labour’s promise to comply with the International Criminal Court (ICC) if an arrest warrant is issued for Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister.
The ICC prosecutor, Karim Khan, a British lawyer, is seeking an arrest warrant for Netanyahu on charges of crimes against humanity, a move described by President Biden as “outrageous”.
Unlike the US, Britain is a signatory to the Rome Statute of the ICC, meaning it would be obliged to arrest Netanyahu if a warrant were granted by the court and the Israeli prime minister stepped onto British soil.
Lammy told CNN: “We have been very clear that in the Labour Party we believe in the rules-based order. We believe in international law. We also believe in the separation of powers.
“It is not for me, as a politician, to start quizzing or debating the determinations that are made by senior judges, whether domestically or internationally.”
