UK, Canada and Australia formally recognize State of Palestine News
Brahim Guedich, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
UK, Canada and Australia formally recognize State of Palestine

The United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada on Sunday recognized the State of Palestine in an effort to advance support for a two-state solution and a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

In a statement, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer noted that the decision comes in the wake of escalating violence and settlement expansion in the West Bank, and said it aims to revive the hope of peace in the region. Additionally, Starmer stressed that the decision is not a reward for Hamas, which he called a terror organization, because Hamas would have no role in a “genuine two-state solution.” In a letter to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Starmer noted that the United Kingdom is determined to recognize the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, including the right to statehood.

The Prime Ministers of Australia and Canada promised to work toward a peaceful future to both Palestine and Israel as two sovereign and independent nations. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong stated that the right to statehood is a “legitimate and long held aspiration” of the Palestinian people.

Under international law, the right to self-determination emerged as a legal norm in the context of decolonization, affirming that all peoples under colonial occupation have a right to determine their political status and subsequently establish a state. Article 1(2) of the UN Charter states that one purpose of the UN is to build friendly relations amongst nations based on respect for the principle of self-determination, whereas UNGA Resolution 1514 of 1960 considered the end of colonialism a necessity.

Palestine was administered by the United Kingdom under a League of Nations Mandate until Israel declared independence following the passage of a 1947 UN partition plan to split the region into an Arab and a Jewish state. International observers have deemed the continued Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the blockade of Gaza to be obstacles to Palestinian self-determination. UN General Assembly Resolution 3236 explicitly recognized the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and national independence.

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