LONDON: As Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced Britain’s landmark decision to recognize the State of Palestine on Sunday, the small team in the Palestinian mission to the UK erupted in cheers of joy.
“This is a historic moment,” beamed Palestinian envoy to the UK Husam Zomlot, watching the televised announcement at the mission in west London.
Canada and Australia took the same step in a coordinated decision marking a pivotal shift in Western foreign policy, with Israel under increasing international pressure over its deadly war with Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
“This is a South Africa moment for Palestine,” the head of the Palestinian Mission to the UK told AFP in the building, which will soon be designated as Palestine’s embassy in Britain.
He was referring to the end of South Africa’s white apartheid government in the 1990s, which came after growing international pressure and isolation.
Recognition was an “act of assurances to the Palestinian people that they hope for a better future and ... peace is possible.”
Zomlot was born in a refugee camp in Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip. “As a small boy from Rafah, this is all I was raised to know,” he said, gesturing toward the television screen which flashed with breaking news headlines about the recognition of Palestinian statehood.
“Well done, that’s a great moment,” said Zomlot, embracing and congratulating his team, as AFP journalists in the room witnessed Starmer’s announcement after a tense day of anticipation for the mission.
“It’s been decades,” joked one staff member, who wished to remain anonymous.
The UK government had said in July it would recognize Palestinian statehood in September ahead of the annual UN General Assembly unless Israel took “substantive” steps, including reaching a ceasefire in Gaza.
“Today, to revive the hope of peace for the Palestinians and Israelis, and a two-state solution, the United Kingdom formally recognizes the State of Palestine,” Starmer said in a video message posted around 2 p.m. local time (1300 GMT).
“Merely the beginning”
While the recognition, which will be echoed by France, Belgium and other countries at the United Nations next week, is a largely symbolic move, Zomlot said he hoped it would be “actual, practical, actionable.”
“Recognition is not the destination. Recognition is merely the beginning, the first foundational step toward ... making sure that Britain takes its historic responsibility toward the Palestinian people,” said the envoy.
The UK’s Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy told the UN in July it was “with the hand of history on our shoulders” that London planned to recognize Palestinian statehood, given Britain’s pivotal role in creating the State of Israel through the 1917 Balfour Declaration.
The decision is “not only about Palestine,” said Zomlot. “It’s also about Britain. It’s about correcting historic injustice.”
The team will hold a ceremony to mark the announcement on Monday. A carefully folded Palestinian flag, which will be raised outside the building, sits patiently at the reception of the mission waiting to be unfurled.
Cheers, hugs at Palestinian mission as UK recognizes statehood
https://arab.news/rg6sv
Cheers, hugs at Palestinian mission as UK recognizes statehood
- “This is a South Africa moment for Palestine,” the head of the Palestinian Mission to the UK said
- Palestinian Mission will soon be designated as Palestine’s embassy in Britain
Ukraine drops NATO goal as Trump envoy sees progress in peace talks
- The move marks a major shift for Ukraine, which has fought to join NATO as a safeguard against Russian attacks and has such an aspiration included in its constitution
BERLIN/KYIV: President Volodymyr Zelensky offered to drop Ukraine’s aspirations to join the NATO military alliance as he held five hours of talks with US envoys in Berlin on Sunday to end the war with Russia, with negotiations set to continue on Monday.
Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff said “a lot of progress was made” as he and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner met Zelensky in the latest push to end Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War Two, though full details were not divulged.
Zelensky’s adviser Dmytro Lytvyn said the president would comment on the talks on Monday once they were completed. Officials, Lytvyn said, were considering the draft documents.
“They went on for more than five hours and ended for today with an agreement to resume tomorrow morning,” Lytvyn told reporters in a WhatsApp chat.
Ahead of the talks, Zelensky offered to drop Ukraine’s goal to join NATO in exchange for Western security guarantees.
The move marks a major shift for Ukraine, which has fought to join NATO as a safeguard against Russian attacks and has such an aspiration included in its constitution. It also meets one of Russia’s war aims, although Kyiv has so far held firm against ceding territory to Moscow.
“Representatives held in-depth discussions regarding the 20-point plan for peace, economic agendas, and more. A lot of progress was made, and they will meet again tomorrow morning,” Witkoff said in a post on X.
The talks were hosted by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who a source said had made brief remarks before leaving the two sides to negotiate. Other European leaders are also due in Germany for talks on Monday.
“From the very beginning, Ukraine’s desire was to join NATO, these are real security guarantees. Some partners from the US and Europe did not support this direction,” Zelensky said in answer to questions from reporters in a WhatsApp chat.
“Thus, today, bilateral security guarantees between Ukraine and the US, Article 5-like guarantees for us from the US, and security guarantees from European colleagues, as well as other countries — Canada, Japan — are an opportunity to prevent another Russian invasion,” Zelensky said.
“And it is already a compromise on our part,” he said, adding the security guarantees should be legally binding.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly demanded Ukraine officially renounce its NATO ambitions and withdraw troops from the about 10 percent of Donbas which Kyiv still controls. Moscow has also said Ukraine must be a neutral country and no NATO troops can be stationed in Ukraine.
Russian sources said earlier this year that Putin wants a “written” pledge by major Western powers not to enlarge the US-led NATO alliance eastwards — shorthand for formally ruling out membership to Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova and other former Soviet republics.
Sending Witkoff, who has led negotiations with Ukraine and Russia on a US peace proposal, appeared to be a signal that Washington saw a chance of progress nearly four years after Russia’s 2022 invasion.
Under pressure from Trump to sign a peace deal that initially backed Moscow’s demands, Zelensky accused Russia of dragging out the war through deadly bombings of cities and Ukraine’s power and water supplies.
A ceasefire along the current front lines would be a fair option, he added.
‘CRITICAL MOMENT’
Germany’s Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said it was a “good sign” Trump had sent his envoys while fielding questions in an interview with the ZDF broadcaster on the suitability of Witkoff and Kushner, two businessmen, as negotiators.
“It’s certainly anything but an ideal setup for such negotiations. That much is clear. But as they say, you can only dance with the people on the dance floor,” Pistorius said.
On the issue of Ukraine’s offer to give up its NATO aspirations in exchange for security guarantees, Pistorius said Ukraine had bitter prior experience of relying on security assurances. Kyiv had in 1994 agreed to give up its Soviet-era nuclear arsenal in exchange for territorial guarantees from the US, Russia and Britain.
“Therefore, it remains to be seen to what extent this statement Zelensky has now made will actually hold true, and what preconditions must be met,” Pistorius said.
“This concerns territorial issues, commitments from Russia and others,” he said, adding mere security guarantees, especially without significant US involvement, “wouldn’t be worth much.”
Britain, France and Germany have been working to refine the US proposals, which in a draft disclosed last month called for Kyiv to cede more territory, abandon its NATO ambitions and accept limits on its armed forces.
European allies have described this as a “critical moment” that could shape Ukraine’s future, and sought to shore up Kyiv’s finances by leveraging frozen Russian central bank assets to fund Kyiv’s military and civilian budget.
