‘No one has a veto on recognition’ of Palestinian state, says UK foreign secretary

LONDON 

The UK’s foreign secretary said on Tuesday that Palestinians have a “just cause” to have a sovereign state, but did not specify when the government would recognize it.

During a question-and-answer session in parliament, David Lammy was pressed by MPs to outline the government’s plan to recognize Palestine, he said “no one has a veto” on a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine.

When the Labour frontbencher repeatedly emphasized the issue, Lammy did not specify a time frame, instead telling lawmakers in the House of Commons that the Palestinians have a “just cause” and that the UK will work with its partners to achieve a two-state solution.

When asked by Labour MP Paula Barker what the government would do if Israel refused to consider any moves toward a two-state solution, which they have repeatedly and vocally rejected, the foreign secretary responded that “no one has a veto on recognition.”

“As I’ve said, we want it to be part of a process, it does not deliver a two-state solution in of itself but it is absolutely right that the Palestinians are enabled to have a sovereign state,” he added.

He went on to say that he rejects and disagrees with those in Israel who say there can be no two-state solution.

“Because if there’s no two-state solution, then there is either one state or no state at all,” he noted.

However, Lammy did not pledge a time for the UK government for the recognition, rather he said they “will do it at the appropriate moment, hopefully working with other partners as a road to that two states that we desire.”

“We want a credible and irreversible pathway towards a two-state solution, a safe and secure Israel along a viable sovereign Palestinian state,” he said, adding that they are committed to recognizing a Palestinian state “as a contribution to a peace process at a time that is most conducive to that process.”

He also reiterated the importance of their relationship with Israel, saying there is “absolutely no abandonment of our close ties and our relationship with Israel.”

Also, Anneliese Dodds, the minister for Development at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, reiterated that they are “deeply concerned” about the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.

At least 39,400 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and nearly 91,000 injured, according to local health authorities.

Over nine months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

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