FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said she has warned Israel not to annex parts of the West Bank in retaliation for the UK's recognition of Palestinian statehood.
Cooper was speaking to the BBC before attending a conference on Monday at the UN in New York, where France and other European states are expected to make a similar announcement.
In what was a significant change in policy, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced the UK's recognition of the Palestinian state on Sunday, along with Canada, Australia and Portugal.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the actions, saying they give "a huge reward to terrorism."
Asked by the BBC if she was concerned that Israel would take this statement as a pretext for annexing parts of the West Bank, Cooper said she had made it clear to her Israeli counterpart that he and his government should not do this.
She said that "we have been clear that this decision we are making is about the best way to respect security for Israel, as well as security for the Palestinians."
"This is about protecting peace and justice and, above all, security for the Middle East and we will continue to work with everyone in the region to do that."
Cooper said extremists on both sides were seeking to abandon any prospect of a two-state solution, which the UK had a moral obligation to revive.
"The easiest thing to do would be to just walk away and say it's too hard," Cooper said, adding "we just think that's wrong when we've seen so much destruction, so much suffering."
"Just as we recognize Israel, the state of Israel, we must also recognize the rights of the Palestinians to a state of their own," she said.
She did not say when the UK Consulate General in East Jerusalem would become a full embassy, saying that this would proceed while a diplomatic process with the Palestinian Authority began.
France will co-chair a meeting with Saudi Arabia that will address the path to a two-state solution to the conflict, after the latter pledged to recognize Palestinian statehood in July. Belgium is also expected to follow France's statement at the meeting.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded by saying that Palestinian statehood "will not be created."
The US joined him in describing the move as a diplomatic gift to Hamas, after the latter attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage.
Sir Keir stressed that this was not the case, as the terms of recognition mean that Hamas can have "no future, no role in government, no role in security".
This message was reflected in a statement from the Foreign Office, which said the foreign secretary would use the UN meeting to "ensure that violent terrorists like Hamas have no role to play in the future of a Palestinian state."
The prime minister added that the decision was instead a "promise to the Palestinian and Israeli people that there can be a better future", saying that "the hunger and destruction [in Gaza] are completely intolerable".
Sir Keir, who has repeatedly said that Hamas could have no role in the future governance of a Palestinian state, said during his announcement that the UK had already banned and sanctioned Hamas and that he had directed work to sanction other Hamas figures in the coming weeks.
Lini një Përgjigje