Canada, UK recognize Palestinian state in break with Trump

Canada, the UK and Australia have formally recognized a Palestinian state, joining a growing global consensus and pushing ahead with a policy that has drawn criticism from U.S. President Donald Trump.

The Canadian and Australian governments announced the move in separate statements on Sunday, calling it a “co-ordinated international effort” toward a two-state solution. Prime Minister Keir Starmer subsequently announced the UK was joining in the effort in a video statement.

“While Canada is under no illusions that this recognition is a panacea, this recognition is firmly aligned with the principles of self-determination and fundamental human rights reflected in the United Nations Charter, and the consistent policy of Canada for generations,” according to the statement by Prime Minister Mark Carney’s office.

Starmer, Carney and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese are following through on pledges made previously to join allies including France in recognizing Palestine. Others are also expected to take the step against the backdrop of United Nations General Assembly meetings in New York starting this week, joining 147 of 193 member states that have already granted Palestinian statehood.

U.S. officials have criticized the move and warned that it would incentivize Hamas to prolong the war with Israel. When Carney vowed to recognize Palestine in July, Trump said it would threaten Canada’s ability to reach a trade deal with his country. And during his recent state visit to Britain, the U.S. President said that he has a “disagreement” with Starmer over the policy, but didn’t urge the prime minister to reconsider.

Diplomats behind the scenes have been working to limit the fallout with the Trump administration. A Canadian official briefing reporters said the government has had “many exchanges” with the U.S. in recent weeks and the policy is “well understood” by the Americans. The person also emphasized that Canada and the U.S. share the same overall objective of peace in the Middle East.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reacted with fury to the plans to recognize Palestine, arguing that it “rewards Hamas’s monstrous terrorism” and “punishes its victims,” and warning that a “jihadist state on Israel’s border” will pose a grave threat.

On Sunday, he said his government will retaliate against countries that take the step upon his return from a trip to the U.S. later this month, according to a video message from his office. “Wait for it,” he said.

‘Growing horror’

The move to recognize Palestine comes as recent developments, including the accelerated building of settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and the humanitarian disaster in Gaza, severely undermined the potential for a two-state solution, both the UK and Canada said. Israel is moving ahead with a long-threatened ground operation into the heart of Gaza City after weeks of air strikes.

Still, the countries stressed their commitment to Israel’s security and reaffirmed their call for Hamas, which is proscribed as a terrorist organization by the UK, U.S. and EU, to release all hostages, sign on to a ceasefire, disarm and accept they will play no part in the government of Gaza.

“In the face of the growing horror in the Middle East, we are acting to keep alive the possibility of peace and a two-state solution,” Starmer said, with his government saying it expects to take further action to sanction senior figures in the Hamas leadership in coming weeks.

As part of their recognition, the countries stressed that the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited rule in the West Bank, will need to live up to its commitments to the international community. These include carrying out reforms to its governance, holding elections in 2026 in which Hamas will play no part, and a demilitarization of the Palestinian state.

Further steps by Australia, “including the establishment of diplomatic relations and opening of embassies, will be considered as the Palestinian Authority makes progress on its commitments to reform,” Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in a joint statement.

In a statement welcoming Britain’s recognition, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday affirmed Palestine’s “full commitment to all the obligations and reforms it pledged during his visit to the UK.”

UN conference

French President Emmanuel Macron has led the way on the plan to recognize Palestinian statehood. France and Saudi Arabia are set to co-chair a conference on a two-state solution in New York on Monday, where Carney is expected to speak. Still, the decisions by Japan and Germany not to recognize the state have dealt a blow to the effort.

Ahead of the announcements, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres reaffirmed his commitment to a two-state solution in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s David Mura.

“It’s a very important pressure on Israel to understand that they cannot move on with the annexation of the West Bank,” Guterres said of the countries’ plans to recognize Palestinian statehood.

A one-state solution, Guterres said, would see millions of Palestinians expelled, subjugated and stripped of rights. “Is it acceptable in the 21st century? I think it is not.”

The U.N.’s role in the establishment of a two-state solution can be traced back to a 1947 General Assembly vote for the creation of two states, one Jewish and one Arab, in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine. Subsequent decades of conflict in the region led to the Oslo Peace Accords — a process started in the early 1990s to create a framework for mutual recognition between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization that grew into a plan for a Palestinian state.

Netanyahu himself accepted the state in a 2009 speech in Israel, and in 2011 told the U.S. Congress that the Palestinian state needed to be “big enough to be viable, independent and prosperous.”

But he and Israel have moved firmly away from that conviction over the past dozen years, arguing that the Palestinians aren’t willing to accept Israel as a Jewish state and that they’ve increased their embrace of Hamas, which is backed by Iran and seeks Israel’s destruction. Israel has also become more religious and right-wing, building Jewish settlements throughout the West Bank, pushing a viable Palestinian state further away.

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(With assistance from Ethan Bronner, Alisa Odenheimer, Rachel Lavin, Curtis Heinzl and Marissa Newman.)

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