Reacting to today’s emergency cabinet meeting on Gaza and Keir Stamer’s statement, Green Party MP, Ellie Chowns, who is the party’s foreign affairs spokesperson, said:
“What Starmer has said today suggests Palestinian statehood is a bargaining chip, only to be awarded if the Israeli government fails to end the genocide in Gaza and agrees to a range of other conditions such as allowing the UN to restart the supply of aid and ending annexations in the West Bank.
“While these conditions are welcome and essential steps towards a ceasefire and a peaceful solution, they must not be an alternative to recognising Palestinian statehood. This is a cynical political gesture ahead of the outcomes of the UN Conference and suggests that if Israel were to comply with the demands, Palestinian statehood would be kicked down the road again, disenfranchising the Palestinian people.
“The Green Party calls on Keir Starmer to immediately and unconditionally recognise a Palestinian state as part of a two-state solution, just as Labour promised to do in their election manifesto.”