British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that certain steps must be taken before recognizing a Palestinian state, while an American website reported that Secretary of State Anthony Blinken asked his department to review options related to recognizing that state.
Sunak explained that the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) must be removed from Gaza first, and a Palestinian government must be established in Gaza and the West Bank. It is also necessary to develop a concrete plan to reform and support the Palestinian Authority, and develop a plan to rebuild Gaza, in addition to the two-state solution.
The British Prime Minister stressed his country’s support for Israel and the need to remove what he described as a “terrorist threat” against it and ensure its permanent security.
Regarding the war in Gaza, Sunak expressed Britain’s deep concern about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, and said that his country is working to bring in more aid.
Blinken’s vision
In a related context, Axios quoted an American official as saying that reviewing options related to recognizing the Palestinian state was one of the issues that US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken asked the ministry to consider.
The American website added that Blinken also requested a review of the form of a demilitarized Palestinian state based on other models in the world.
The US official said that the purpose of the review is to consider options for how to implement the two-state solution in a way that “ensures Israel’s security.”
He stressed that the White House is aware of the ongoing reviews and that Blinken has not signed any new policy and that the Foreign Ministry is in the process of developing a large list of options.
Axios also quoted a spokesman for the National Security Council at the White House as saying that the long-standing US policy is that any recognition of a Palestinian state must come through direct negotiations between the two parties, and not through unilateral recognition in the United Nations, and that this policy has not changed. .
The website reported, citing a senior American official, that officials in the administration of President Joe Biden believe that recognition of a Palestinian state should be the first, not the last, step in negotiations to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Efforts to find a diplomatic way out of the war in Gaza have opened the door to rethinking many old American policies.
The “Al-Aqsa Flood” battle – launched by the Palestinian resistance on October 7, and the unprecedented attack it launched against Israel – revived talk about the necessity of finding a permanent solution to the conflict and brought the term two-state solution back to the forefront strongly after years of neglect.
Also, the Israeli massacres committed during its war on the Gaza Strip, which to date left about 27,000 martyrs and nearly 67,000 injured, embarrassed the major powers to begin talking repeatedly about a two-state solution, but within conditions they set.
