Recognising Palestine must not distract from ending mass deaths, says UN rapporteur

The UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories has warned that moves to recognise a Palestinian state should not distract UN member states from putting a stop to mass death and starvation in Gaza.

- Alice Speri

"Of course it's important to recognise the state of Palestine," Francesca Albanese told the Guardian after several more countries announced plans to recognise an independent Palestine. "It's incoherent that they've not done it already."

But she argued that the prolonged debate around Palestinian statehood had so far yielded no political progress, and instead enabled the spread of illegal Israeli settlements in occupied territory, which have all but precluded the possibility of a Palestinian state. "The territory has been literally eaten out by the advancement of the annexation and colonisation," Albanese said.

Countries including the UK, Canada, France and Australia have pledged to recognise a Palestinian state at the UN general assembly next month. The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese (no relation), described the two-state solution as "humanity's best hope to break the cycle of violence in the Middle East".

But the special rapporteur cautioned that the renewed push for Palestinian statehood should not "distract the attention from where it should be: the genocide".

Albanese called for an embargo on all arms sales to Israel and a cessation of trade agreements - as well as accountability for the war crimes and crimes against humanity with which the international criminal court has charged top Israeli officials. She also called for a complete Israeli withdrawal from occupied territory by the 17 September deadline set by the UN general assembly.