The Palestinian flag has been raised outside the premises of what is now Palestine’s embassy to the United Kingdom in London, marking Britain’s historic and long-awaited recognition of a Palestinian state, as Israel’s relentless destruction of Gaza and its military’s crackdown in the occupied West Bank continue.
The flag-raising ceremony on Monday followed a speech by Palestinian Ambassador to the UK Husam Zomlot, outside what was previously the Palestine Mission to the UK.
“Please join me as we raise the flag of Palestine with its colours representing our nation: Black for our mourning, white for our hope, green for our land and red for the sacrifices of our people,” Zomlot said.
Zomlot said the recognition of a Palestinian state was about “righting historic wrongs and committing together to a future based on freedom, dignity and fundamental human rights”.
He called on people to remember “that this recognition comes at a time of unimaginable pain and suffering as a genocide is being waged against us – a genocide that is still being denied and allowed to continue with impunity”.
He continued: “It comes as our people in Gaza are being starved, bombed, and buried under the rubble of their homes; as our people in the West Bank are being ethnically cleansed, brutalised by daily state-sponsored terrorism, land theft and suffocating oppression.”
Zomlot said the recognition was occurring “as the humanity of Palestinian people is still questioned, our lives still treated as disposable and our basic freedoms still denied”.
“Yet, this moment stands as a defiant act of truth, a refusal to let genocide be the final word; a refusal to accept that occupation is permanent; a refusal to be erased and a refusal to be dehumanised,” he concluded.
‘A hollow gesture’
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced the UK’s decision to formally recognise a Palestinian state, more than 100 years after the Balfour Declaration backed “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people”, and 77 years after the creation of Israel in the British Mandate of Palestine.
“In the face of the growing horror in the Middle East, we are acting to keep alive the possibility of peace and of a two-state solution,” Starmer said in a video statement on Sunday.
Independent British MP Shockat Adam said the raising of the flag was a “monumental moment”.
“It’s a point in history, hopefully it’s a turning point in history, but it was a very powerful day, it was a very emotional day,” Adam told Al Jazeera.
“We don’t have a mission now, we have an embassy; we don’t have a mission head, we have an ambassador. Those are small changes, and they don’t mean anything significant on the ground at this moment in time, but this is [still] one moment, too late, very late,” he added.
Amnesty International on Monday said the UK government’s decision to recognise a Palestinian state will be “a hollow gesture” unless it is matched by concrete measures to end Israel’s genocide in Gaza and decades-long occupation.
Kristyan Benedict, Amnesty’s crisis response manager, said recognition was “no doubt significant”, but warned that “words alone won’t stop the atrocities”.
He urged the UK to halt arms exports to Israel, sanction officials implicated in war crimes, end trade with settlements, push for Israel to lift the blockade on famine-stricken Gaza, and dismantle its apartheid system.
The UK government said in July that it would shift its longstanding approach of holding off recognition until a supposed moment of maximum effect – unless Israel stops its genocidal war in Gaza, commits to a long-term sustainable peace process that delivers a two-state solution, and allows more aid into the enclave.
But the catastrophic situation in Gaza has only grown significantly more dire over the past few weeks, as the Israeli military continues to systematically destroy Gaza City to seize it, while continuing to starve and displace the famine-stricken population of the enclave.
Daily raids by Israeli soldiers and attacks by settlers are also ongoing across the occupied West Bank, with Israel advancing plans to annex the Palestinian territory.
Canada, Australia, and Portugal also officially recognised Palestinian statehood two days before the start of the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), where Palestinian sovereignty after decades of occupation and apartheid by Israel will be in focus.
France and Saudi Arabia are preparing to host a one-day summit at the UN, a day before the start of the UNGA, both of which will be heavily focused on Israel’s war on Gaza and the elusive two-state solution.
At the UN headquarters in New York City, world leaders will convene on Monday to revive the long-stalled notion, amid warnings that a contiguous Palestinian state could “vanish altogether” as a result of Israel’s hegemonic moves in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
