US President Donald Trump said he has “a disagreement with the Prime Minister on that score” when asked about Sir Keir Starmer’s plan to recognise a Palestinian state.
Sir Keir meanwhile insisted that he was not delaying his announcement on recognition until after Mr Trump leaves the UK, as the pair took questions from the media together on the final day of the Republican’s state visit to the UK.
The Prime Minister plans to recognise Palestinian statehood ahead of the United Nations general assembly in New York this month, if Israel does not meet a series of conditions to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
British recognition of Palestine is all but guaranteed, as Israel has already said it is opposed to Sir Keir’s conditions – including agreeing to a ceasefire, a two-state solution to peace, and halting annexations in the West Bank.
America under Mr Trump remains staunchly opposed to the idea of recognising a Palestinian state, and has also refused to grant visas to Palestinian officials for the coming UN gathering.
“I have a disagreement with the Prime Minister on that score, one of our few disagreements actually,” the US president told journalists during a press conference at the PM’s country home Chequers, when asked about the British intention to recognise Palestine.
He also accused Palestinian militant group Hamas of “putting the hostages up as bait” which he described as “pretty brutal”.
Mr Trump said the October 7 attacks on Israel were “one of the worst days in the history of humanity” when asked whether he would call on Benjamin Netanyahu to end his ground offensive in Gaza.
He insisted he wanted to see the hostages returned, and not in a “piecemeal” fashion.
Pressed on whether he would call for an end to the war if this condition was met, Mr Trump said: “Well, it would certainly help. But I have to have the hostages back.”
Sir Keir, meanwhile, confirmed the pair had discussed his intention to recognise Palestinian statehood as they met in private on Thursday.
Recognition needs to be seen as “part of that overall package which hopefully takes us from the appalling situation we’re in now to the outcome of a safe and secure Israel, which we do not have, and a viable Palestinian state”, Sir Keir added.
The Prime Minister plans to recognise Palestinian statehood over the weekend, according to the Times newspaper, once Mr Trump has concluded his state visit.
The intention behind this is so Sir Keir’s actions would not cast a shadow over the largely trade-focused US visit, the newspaper said.
Asked why he would not take the step until after Mr Trump’s visit, Sir Keir told journalists: “On the question of recognition, I made my position clear at the end of July, so the timing, it’s got nothing to do with this state visit.”
France, Canada and Japan are among the other nations who have said they plan to take the same step at the summit, or ahead of it.
A joint statement by leading Jewish organisations from Canada, Australia and the UK, including the Board of Deputies of British Jews, has criticised their countries’ plans to recognise Palestinian statehood.
Groups from the three nations said they were “gravely concerned that our governments’ announced intentions to recognise a Palestinian state at the UN this month are seen by Hamas as a reward for its violence and rejectionism towards Israel”.
Meanwhile, UK church leaders issued a joint statement on Thursday saying the latest “deadly escalation” in Gaza is “futile and must stop”.
Signatories including the leader of England and Wales’s Catholics, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, and the Church of England’s current most senior bishop, Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell, said they agreed with Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper’s description earlier this week of Israel’s most recent assault on Gaza as “utterly reckless and appalling”.
