By Dr. Victor Kattan (University of Nottingham), Sir Vincent Fean (Britain Palestine Project) and Hasan Pandar (SOAS University of London)
SOAS ICOP Policy Briefings To Inform Government and Parliamentary Debates
2 May 2025
International law depends on UN Member States individually and collectively upholding it. This June ‘France is expected to align its foreign policy with international law by recognising the State of Palestine’ at a UN conference in New York; co-hosting with Saudi Arabia, President Emmanuel Macron will push for a two-state solution. This has been the bipartisan policy of successive British governments, but without declaring official recognition of Palestine. This present British Government was elected on the commitment to recognise Palestine and uphold international law. Britain’s recognition will make a significant political, legal and moral difference: it should lead efforts for the recognition of Palestine on pre-June 1967 lines—now.
Out of 193 UN member states, 149 (including the Holy See) already recognise the State of Palestine officially. In 2014, two years after Palestine became a non-member observer state of the United Nations General Assembly, the House of Commons voted 274 to 12 in favour of recognising Palestine. On 19 July 2024 the International Court of Justice issued its Advisory Opinion on the unlawfulness of Israel’s 1967 occupation of Gaza, East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank, and stated that Israel should withdraw from those territories; it follows that the state of Palestine should consist of those territories and the UK must demand Israeli respect for it.
The ICJ stated that it: considers that Israel, as the occupying Power, has the obligation not to impede the Palestinian people from exercising its right to self-determination, including its right to an independent and sovereign State, over the entirety of the Occupied Palestinian Territory [emphasis added].
But in 2025 the UK Government rejected a Bill requiring the UK to recognise a Palestinian state.
Yet in 2011 the UK publicly accepted that Palestine meets the criteria for statehood in international law; it postponed recognition for political reasons. Further political delay is untenable: to insist that Palestine can only be a state when it becomes independent would be to privilege illegality over legality, since the very reason for Palestine’s lack of independence is an unlawful occupation.
In fact, the UK has implicitly recognised Palestine as a state in multiple ways. These include: official statements; acceptance of Palestine’s membership of international organisations; the establishment of foreign relations, including relations at a very high level of policy; treaty practice; and not protesting against Palestine’s capacity to become party to treaties or international organisations. On 28 April, the Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, signed the UK-Palestine Memorandum of Understanding on Strategic Cooperation with the Palestinian Government, and reiterated the UK’s commitment to ‘urgently advancing Palestinian statehood as a key part of a two-state solution’.
Britain has historic responsibility, stemming from the time of the Balfour Declaration and the establishment of the British Mandate to rule Palestine by the League of Nations. The Mandate made Britain responsible for assisting the Palestinian people towards independence in Palestine—but Britain failed to do this. Now that France is coordinating recognition with efforts by Arab states, the UK Government should take the lead in respecting the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination. The sovereignty of Israel is not violated by recognising the State of Palestine.
For further information contact the authors at victor.kattan@nottingham.ac.uk and vincentfean@gmail.com. Contact Professor Alison Scott-Baumann for access to other experts at as150@soas.ac.uk, and visit our website for more information. The views expressed in SOAS ICOP Briefings are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of SOAS University of London.