Starmer's Palestine plan is a cheap and delusional gimmick

KEIR Starmer’s declaration that Britain will recognise a Palestinian state unless Israel takes “substantive steps” to improve conditions in Gaza is the diplomatic equivalent of an ultimatum. It is also another glaring U-turn from a man increasingly known for pirouetting on principle whenever the political winds shift.

- Esther Krakue Daily Express Columnist

Only last week, responding to a letter signed by 221 MPs demanding immediate recognition, Starmer rejected the idea. Recognition, he insisted, “must be part of a wider plan which ultimately results in a two-state solution and lasting security for Palestinians and Israelis”. Seven days later, we are here.

Let me be blunt: I will not peddle the fantasy of a two-state solution. It hasn’t happened, and it isn’t going to happen, not while both sides are still counting their dead in the thousands. Dangling this delusion in front of the public is disingenuous and naive. It serves no one. Starmer’s announcement is not just politically cheap, it’s in poor taste.

It offers the prospect of Palestinian statehood in the middle of a war that began with Hamas-led forces massacring, raping and abducting more than 1,200 people on October 7 — the deadliest day of anti-Jewish violence since the Holocaust.

FOR most Jews that day is impossible to forget. To talk about recognition before the hostages are home and Hamas is defeated feels like a slap in the face to victims and their families. It also trivialises decades of Palestinian anguish. Generations have been denied self-determination, living in limbo under occupation or corrupt and violent leadership.