The statement issued on September 21 by the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer on Palestinian statehood [1] must be condemned as duplicitous with the aim of rescuing the apartheid and genocidal state of Israel. Alongside the US and the other Genocide 7 countries (G7), Britain is a foremost supporter of the Zionist state of Israel and arms supplier to this genocidal regime. This was the case even before Israel stepped up its crimes against the people of Gaza and the West Bank on October 7, 2023, and since.

In this statement Starmer says: “In the face of the growing horror in the Middle East...We are acting to keep alive the possibility of peace and a Two State Solution. That means a safe and secure Israel…Alongside a viable Palestinian State.” This reveals the morally repellent and duplicitous nature of this statement of a “viable Palestinian state”, in other words a “safe and secure Israel” and a Palestinian state “viable” to Britain and Israel and not the Palestinian people. It is the conception of “state” as it exists now. It is the imposed small and diminishing apartheid Palestinian enclaves in Gaza and the West Banks still under the jackboots of the Israeli terrorist regime and their settlers. That is not any recognition of the self-determination for the Palestinian people and the right to choose their own government in their own lands, in their own territory and organise their own security and affairs including the right of Palestinians to return to their land.

Starmer’s statement makes it clear that he sees the “horror in the Middle East” as the Palestinian resistance. The statement is deliberately and callously aimed against the right of the Palestinians to resist. It ignores the unbelievable crimes of the Israeli state and the “war” waged by the IDF against the men, women and children in Gaza and the West Bank. His statement condemns Hamas for its actions but not Israel for its genocide. He says: “Let’s be frank – Hamas is a brutal terror organisation. Our call for a genuine Two State Solution…Is the exact opposite of their hateful vision.” The statement imposes Britain’s solution of Palestinian statehood on the Palestinians that “Hamas can have no future. No role in government. No role in security.” On Israeli crimes he admits that: “Tens of thousands have been killed – Including thousands as they tried to collect food and water…still, nowhere near enough aid is getting through.” Yet, there is no condemnation of Israeli state terrorism and genocide. No mentions that Britain has supported this for two years this October, but only his feeble call now for Israel to “stop these cruel tactics”. That is what he means by “a safe and secure Israel…Alongside a viable Palestinian State.” The murderous onslaught against the Palestinian people, the destruction of their homes and cities, their hospitals and schools - for Starmer this is just a “cruel tactic”. Now he claims after two years that he and the other Genocide 7 will build a “Framework for Peace”!

Also, in his statement Starmer cynically uses it as an opportunity to attack the British people's overwhelming opposition to Israel genocide and support for the Palestinians in Britain. He claims that: “I know the strength of feeling that this conflict provokes. We have seen it on our streets…In our schools…In conversations with friends and family.” But then he says: “It has created division. Some have used it to stoke hatred and fear.” This when the British state and his government have tried desperately to crush the resistance of the people to Britain’s ongoing support for and arming of Israel. Starmer’s government has banned peaceful demonstrations and proscribed Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation. It should be mentioned that the 2025 TUC voted unanimously against this proscribing. It is Starmer and his government that has criminalised dissent to try and create hatred and division. It is they that have arrested hundreds under the Terrorism Acts for peacefully demonstrating their opposition to this.

At the end of his statement, Starmer claims to “revive the hope of peace and a Two State Solution” by formally recognising “the State of Palestine”. Try as he may, Starmer’s definition of a "two-state solution" will not prevail. The Palestinian people are deciding and will decide how they exercise their right to self-determination. Attempts to call the Resistance "terrorism" do not make it so. This is a problem the government of Britain has never been able to overcome, and why Starmer has been forced to make this duplicitous statement. However, the peoples know better as to what will bring about peace and justice.

Note
1. PM statement on the recognition of Palestine: 21 September 2025
https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-statement-on-the-recognition-of-palestine-21-september-2025

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