Palestinian Foreign Minister Varsen Aghabekian Shahin welcomed the declarations to recognize a Palestinian state.
“It is a move bringing us closer to sovereignty and independence,” Shahin told reporters in Ramallah. “It might not end the war tomorrow, but it’s a move forward, which we need to build on and amplify,” she said, referring to Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip.
Britain’s Starmer had long supported Palestinian statehood in principle, but refused to put a timeline on granting official status until earlier this year, when he faced calls for action from much of the Labour Party, including his own Cabinet.
The topic was a point of tension during an otherwise smooth visit by Donald Trump to the U.K. last week, during which the U.S. president admitted it was “one of our few disagreements” in response to a question during a joint press conference with Starmer at Chequers.
However, Trump did not take Starmer to task and even patted him on the back as he called Hamas “a terrorist organization who can have no part in any future governance in Palestine.”
As well as demonstrating solidarity with Palestinians, Starmer will hope that the decision helps calm the mood at Labour’s forthcoming annual conference, which serves as a litmus test of the leader’s standing with the party.
