https://arab.news/j7zhn
- Yvette Cooper highlights Israel鈥檚 conduct in the territory as she outlines reasons for UK recognizing Palestinian state
LONDON: The UK鈥檚 foreign secretary accused Israel鈥檚 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of allowing children to starve in Gaza as she explained Britain鈥檚 decision to recognize a Palestinian state.
Speaking at a landmark UN conference co-hosted by 黑料社区 and France, Yvette Cooper pointed to Israel鈥檚 atrocities in Gaza as a key reason why the UK had made the declaration.
Britain is among at least 10 other Western nations to have recognized Palestine in recent days in response to Israel鈥檚 war in Gaza that has killed more than 65,000 people.
Cooper said statehood is the 鈥渋nalienable right of the Palestinian people鈥� and that two states is the only path to 鈥渟ecurity and lasting peace for Israelis and Palestinians.鈥�
She said Britain鈥檚 decision reflected 鈥渁 grave reality鈥� with the road map to a lasting peace with a Palestinian and Israeli state side by side 鈥渋n profound peril.鈥�
Cooper said: 鈥淚n Gaza, the unbearable humanitarian catastrophe worsens as the Netanyahu government chooses to escalate war and hold back aid. Children dying of starvation while food rots at the border.鈥�
She said Israel鈥檚 settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank also threatened 鈥渢he very viability of a Palestinian state.鈥�
She added: 鈥淭he two-state solution risks disappearing beneath the rubble. That is what extremists on all sides want.鈥�
Her comments came during the High-Level International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine held in New York on Monday.
Hours earlier, President Emmanuel Macron told the meeting that France would also recognize Palestine, warning against the 鈥減eril of endless wars鈥� if a two-state solution was not realized.
Cooper said the UK鈥檚 action was also intended to freeze out Hamas from a future Palestinian state.
鈥淭his pathway is the opposite of Hamas鈥� hateful vision,鈥� she said.
She called for an immediate ceasefire, the release of all Israeli hostages seized by Hamas during the deadly October 2023 raid that triggered the conflict, and the resumption of aid to Gaza that Israel has reduced to a trickle.