Starmer's Promise Isn't Enough: Why Some Palestinians Say It's "Too Late"

Following the lead of France and Canada, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has proposed that Britain formally recognise a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in September. This marks a significant shift from the empty slogan of a two-state solution that has persisted since the Oslo peace process devolved into bloodshed 25 years ago. A day travelling through the West Bank is a stark reminder of how "facts on the ground," created by Israel to prevent such a state, have been concreted into the Palestinians' rocky hills and valleys.

A Project on the Hills

In Jewish settlements that are now home to more than 700,000 Israelis, one can see the success of Israel's massive national project, which began only days after it captured the territory in the 1967 Middle East war. Getting them there has been a decades-long process, costing billions of dollars and sparking condemnation from friends and foes alike. It is a breach of international law for an occupying power to settle its citizens in territory it has taken. Last year, the International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion stating that the entire occupation was illegal. Nevertheless, Benjamin Netanyahu's government is pushing for more settlements.

In May, Defence Minister Israel Katz and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced that 22 new settlements would be built in the West Bank. Katz said the massive expansion, the biggest in decades, was a strategic move that would prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, which he claimed would "endanger Israel and empower our enemies."

"This is a Zionist, defensive, and national reaction, as well as a decisive statement on the country's future," he said.

Bezalel Smotrich, the ultra-nationalist kingmaker, lives in a West Bank settlement and believes the land was given to the Jews by God. He is the finance minister but also holds broad authority over planning in the West Bank, effectively acting as its governor. The settlement expansion was "a once-in-a-generation decision," Smotrich said. "Next step: sovereignty!"

Everyone in Israel and the Palestinian territories knows that when Smotrich and his allies say "sovereignty," they mean annexation. Smotrich intends to clear the land of Palestinians for Jews and has openly discussed how to displace them.

‘We were very, very scared’

On the hilltops, settlements exist in various stages of growth. They range from well-established small towns with mature gardens and schools to outposts with fewer than 100 caravans and a militant cohort of young settlers, who often mix faith with extreme Jewish nationalism, firearms, and sometimes deadly violence. According to data from the UN and peace activists, violent settlers have increased attacks on their Palestinian neighbours since the 7th of October. I went to see how this has affected Taybeh, a predominantly Christian village of about 1,500 residents.

It is a quiet place with more houses than people; after almost six decades of Israeli occupation, more people from Taybeh have been forced to emigrate than now live there. Two nights before my visit, while most people were in bed, settlers came to the village. They vandalised Kamal Tayea’s car and tried unsuccessfully to break into his new home, part of a pleasant neighbourhood overlooking acres of olive groves. They daubed the walls with graffiti sprayed in red Hebrew letters. Kamal, a middle-aged man now reassessing his decision to move his family to the village's edge, is installing a network of security cameras.

‘We were very, very scared,’ Kamal said. ‘I have children and an old mum. Our lives were in jeopardy; it was terrifying.’

I asked him if Britain's decision to recognise Palestine would make his life any easier.

‘I don't think so. It's a big step to have a superpower like Britain help us, but on the ground, it doesn't change much. Israel does not comply with any international resolutions or laws. It pays no attention to any other country in the world.’

‘Our roots are here. We can't move’

The following night, Jewish settlers raided neighbouring Palestinian communities, torching cars and spraying graffiti. This is more than just vandalism. The settlers want the Palestinians off their land, and in some parts of the occupied territories, they have succeeded, evicting Palestinians from rural villages and stealing their livestock. David Khoury, a 74-year-old Greek Orthodox priest, was born in Taybeh. In his church, I remarked that the settlers who have assaulted him and other residents are often armed.

‘Yes, they have guns; they'll use them if we disagree with them. They want us to leave,’ he said.

The old priest was defiant. ‘We have been here since Jesus Christ, 2,000 years ago. Our roots are here. We can't move. We would rather die here than leave. Palestine is in our blood; how can we survive without our blood?’

‘If you really seek two states, recognise both’

I was not many miles from Ramallah, the de facto Palestinian capital, but getting there can be slow and difficult due to Israel's checkpoints. So, I spoke remotely with Husam Zomlot, the head of the Palestinian Mission to the UK, who serves as their ambassador in London. He was back home for the summer and was delighted by Britain's decision.

‘It is a sign that the United Kingdom and the rest of the international community are serious about the two-state solution. We are no longer in the business of lip service, which has sadly cost us three decades. If you really want two states, you must recognise two states.’

‘We see this as the starting gun for a brisk march toward establishing Palestine and upholding the Palestinian people's legitimate rights.’

Zomlot was jubilant. It was, he said, a first step, and Britain's decision would make a real difference. History is a key factor in the conflict. The United Kingdom, he said, was atoning at last for the wrongs it had done to Palestinians when it was the imperial power here between 1917 and 1948. He was referring to the promises made in a short, typewritten letter dated 2 November 1917, signed by Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour and sent to Lord Rothschild, a leader of Britain's Jewish community.

The letter pledged "sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations" and stated that the establishment of "a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine" would be viewed with favour by Britain. It was followed by another pledge: "Nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine."

‘He meant the majority, the Palestinian Arabs, though he didn't name them,’ says Britain's Foreign Secretary, David Lammy. Speaking at the UN in New York this week, Lammy said the UK should be proud to have helped lay Israel's foundations after 1917. However, he added that breaking the Balfour Declaration's promise to Palestinians triggered "a historical injustice that continues to unfold."

At the Knesset in Jerusalem, Simcha Rothman, an ultra-nationalist MP from Israel's National Religious Party, took a different view of Britain's imperial history. He argued that Britain no longer had the right to play the imperial power, referencing how the British and French drew borders after taking the Middle East from the dying Ottoman Empire during the First World War.

Rothman, like his party leader Bezalel Smotrich and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said the initiative to recognise a Palestinian state rewarded Hamas's terrorism. He dismissed Starmer's offer to postpone recognition if Israel agreed to a complete ceasefire in Gaza and a revival of the two-state solution, among other conditions.

‘He is threatening Israel with punishment, believing this is the way to bring peace,’ Rothman said. ‘He is not in a position to punish us, and it will not bring about peace. It's against justice, history, faith, and culture. Yahya Sinwar [the Hamas leader who commanded the 7 October attacks] is being given a huge reward. Wherever he is in hell today, he sees what Keir Starmer says and thinks, "Good partner."'

Back in Taybeh, I had asked a group of influential locals drinking coffee with the mayor what they thought of the UK's plan.

‘Thank you, Britain,’ one of them, a local businessman, said. ‘But it's too little, too late.’