No change in UK policy on recognizing Palestinian state, Sunak insists

LONDON — Rishi Sunak said the U.K.’s policy on recognizing a Palestinian state hasn’t changed, after his top diplomat sparked anger from Tory MPs by floating the idea.

Sunak’s foreign secretary, David Cameron, told lawmakers last week that the U.K. would “look at the issue of recognizing a Palestinian state, including at the United Nations,” arguing the move could deliver “irreversible progress to a two-state solution.”

He built on the theme on a trip to Lebanon later in the week, suggesting recognition could come even before any Israeli-Palestinian talks on a two-state solution bore fruit. “[Recognition] can’t come at the start of the process, but it doesn’t have to be the very end of the process,” Cameron said.

But Sunak told Piers Morgan in an interview that Cameron’s comments had been “over-interpreted,” and downplayed the idea that U.K. policy had changed.

“Our position is the same,” Sunak said. “David was saying that we are committed to a two-state solution. We absolutely are committed and that’s been a long-standing position of the U.K. government.”

Asked directly by Morgan if the U.K. would consider recognizing a Palestinian state before the conclusion of any peace process — as Cameron had hinted the government could do — Sunak said the U.K. would only do so “at a point where it is most conducive to the process.”

Cameron faced a backlash from some Conservative MPs after his comments.

Former Tory Cabinet minister Theresa Villiers warned in the House of Commons that “bringing forward and accelerating unilateral recognition” of a Palestinian state would only “reward Hamas’ atrocities” following the group’s deadly assault on Israel last October, which led to the ongoing Israeli assault on Gaza.

Pressed by journalists Monday on whether Sunak’s comments amounted to a “slap down” of the foreign secretary, the PM’s official spokesperson replied in the negative, and insisted the two politicians were aligned on the issue.

“As I say, the government will recognize a Palestinian state at the time that it best serves the course of peace,” the spokesperson said.

The U.K. is among those countries continuing to argue that a two-state solution is the only viable long-term solution to the conflict.

But such a proposal — and any move toward recognizing a Palestinian state— faces fierce resistance from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Dan Bloom contributed reporting.