KEIR Starmer has vowed to work with powers in the Middle East to implement Donald Trump’s peace plan for Gaza.
The US president unveiled his 20-point plan to end fighting in Gaza this week with the backing of Israel, but is awaiting a response from Hamas.
The Prime Minister spoke to the crown prince of Kuwait, Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Sabah, and the president of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, on Wednesday morning.
Starmer told the crown prince he felt a “strong sense of responsibility” for the plan to deliver an end to the fighting in Gaza and a long-term pathway to peace.
“The Prime Minister said the UK would work with close allies, including Kuwait, to implement President Trump’s peace plan for Gaza,” a Downing Street spokesperson said.
In a call with the UAE president, he said Trump had put forward a “workable plan” to end the conflict, and the two leaders agreed that Hamas must accept the terms of the deal.
The plan would require Hamas to release hostages, leave power in Gaza and disarm in return for the release of Palestinian prisoners and an end to fighting.
It would guarantee aid into Gaza and reconstruction of the territory.
The deal does not set a path to Palestinian statehood, but would place Palestinians in Gaza under international governance.
Shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel has sent a letter to Starmer asking him to explain what role the UK had taken in putting the plan together.
She also asked whether he had been aware of plans to have former UK prime minister Tony Blair involved in a board to oversee the transitional governance of Gaza or had discussions about the appointment.
Blair was named by Trump as one of a group of international leaders who would sit on a “Board of Peace” to oversee an interim governing authority for Gaza.
Blair has recently been part of high-level planning talks with the US and other parties about the future of Gaza.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting has acknowledged the former prime minister’s role would “raise eyebrows” given his history but backed him, citing his experience brokering the 1998 Good Friday Agreement to end Northern Ireland’s Troubles.
Blair took the UK into the Iraq War in 2003 and then served as Middle East envoy for the quartet of international powers – the US, the EU, Russia and the UN – after leaving office.
The Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank, led by rivals of Hamas, has welcomed Trump’s efforts, as have Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.
However, Qatar and Egypt, two key mediators, have suggested some elements of Trump’s plan require more negotiation.
