UK’s Lammy feted at UN for Palestine recognition threat

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy says the UK’s decision on recognition of Palestinian statehood in September, if Israel does not agree to a ceasefire and long-term peace process, is meant to put pressure on Jerusalem to end fighting in Gaza.

“What we have attempted to do is affect the situation on the ground, and I sincerely hope that we see a dramatic improvement to the suffering that we see and a commitment to a ceasefire,” he tells reporters at the United Nations.

Asked if Trump was given a heads-up, Lammy says that while the US and UK have the “most special” relationship, “we have always been clear that no country has veto on solemn decisions that we make in the United Kingdom.”

Lammy wins loud and sustained applause for the UK’s announcement while speaking at a ministerial meeting in the UN as part of a conference on the two-state solution.

He tells the meeting that the rejection of a two-state solution by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government “is wrong morally and it’s wrong strategically,” stressing that it harms the Israeli people by closing off the only path to peace.