Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia have formally recognized a Palestinian State, aligning with its European allies and promoting a policy that has generated criticism of US President Donald Trump.
The Governments of Canada and Australia announced the measure in communications separated on Sunday, qualifying it as “coordinated international effort” To achieve a solution of two states. Prime Minister Keir Starmer later announced in a video statement that the United Kingdom would join the initiative.
“Although Canada does not make illusions that this recognition is a panacea, this recognition is firmly aligned with the principles of self -determination and the fundamental human rights reflected in the United Nations Charter and Canada’s consistent policy during generations, ”according to the statement of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s office.
Starmer, Carney and Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, are fulfilling their previous commitments to join allies such as France in the recognition of Palestine. Others are expected to also take the step in the context of the meetings of the United Nations General Assembly that begin this week in New York, thus joining 147 of the 193 Member States that have already granted the status of state to Palestine.
The Canadian prime minister won the elections earlier this year with the promise to strengthen ties with its European partners and reduce Canada’s economic and security dependence on the United States. CUndon Carney promised to recognize Palestine in July, Trump said that this would threaten Canada’s ability to reach a commercial agreement with his country.
Carney declared that recognition depended on the commitment of the Palestinian authority with the reforms, including the celebration of elections in 2026 without the participation of Hamas and the demilitarization of the State. The Palestinian authority has assumed these direct commitments with Canada and the international community, according to its office on Sunday.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamín Netanyahu, has reacted furiously before the plans to recognize Palestine, arguing that “rewards the monstrous terrorism of Hamas” and “punishes its victims”, and warning that a “jihadist state on the border with Israel” will represent a serious threat. Israel has declared that recognition harms efforts to achieve a high fire in Gaza and a frame for the release of hostages.
Before the ads, Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel will have to fight both in the UN and in all other scenarios against the false propaganda against the country, and reiterated that the calls to the establishment of a Palestinian state will endanger its existence and reward terrorism.
The events – including the accelerated construction of settlements in the West Bank and Eastern Jerusalem, the violence against the Palestinians, the humanitarian disaster in Gaza and the terrorist attack of October 7 committed by Hamas – have seriously undermined the potential of a solution of two states, the Carney Office said.
The recognition of Canada does not in any way remove the unwavering support of the country to the security of Israel, which can only be guaranteed in the long term through a comprehensive peace agreement, according to the declaration.
Starmer declared Sunday that his government believes that the situation has worsened significantly in recent weeks and that the situation in Gaza is “totally intolerable.” Israel continues with a land operation, with which it has long threatened, in the heart of the city of Gaza after weeks of air attacks.
British demands are maintained, even while this advances in the recognition of a Palestinian state. The Government demands the group, outlaw as a terrorist organization for the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union, which releases all hostages, signs a high fire, disarms and not to participate in the Gaza government. It also plans to take new measures to sanction high positions of Hamas in the coming weeks.
“Given the growing horror in the Middle East, we are acting to keep the possibility of peace and a solution of two states alive,” said Starmer.
Although Britain was expected to make the decision, since Israel did not meet the conditions imposed by Starmer in July, the authorities waited until after the recent state visit of Trump to avoid a political confrontation. The US president declared Thursday that he has a “disagreement” with Starmer about this policy, but did not urged the prime minister to reconsider her.
Diplomats behind the scenes have been working to limit the consequences with the Trump administration. A Canadian official, informing the press, said that the government has maintained numerous exchanges with the United States in recent weeks and that Americans understand politics well. This source also emphasized that Canada and the United States share the same general objective of peace in the Middle East.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has led the plan to recognize the Palestinian State. Saudi France and Arabia will co -win a conference on the solution of two states in New York on Monday, where Carney’s intervention is expected. However, Japan and Germany’s decision not to recognize the State has meant a hard blow to the effort.
The UN role in the establishment of a solution of two states dates back to the vote of the General Assembly of 1947 in favor of the creation of two states, one Jewish and another Arab, in what was then the British mandate of Palestininto. The subsequent decades of conflict in the region led to the Peace Agreements of Oslo, a process initiated in the early 1990s to create a mutual recognition framework between Israel and the Organization for the Liberation of Palestine, which became a plan for a Palestinian State.
Netanyahu himself accepted the State in a speech delivered in Israel in 2009, and in 2011 he told the United States Congress that the Palestinian State should be “large enough to be viable, independent and prosperous.”
But he and Israel have firmly distanced themselves from that conviction during the last twelve years, arguing that the Palestinians are not willing to accept Israel as a Jewish state and that they have increased their support to Hamas, which has the support of Iran and seeks the destruction of Israel. Israel has also become more religious and right -wing, building Jewish settlements throughout the West Bank, further removing the possibility of a viable Palestinian state.
