Quakers, CoE Bishops comment on UK government's move to recognise Palestine

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While both Church of England bishops and Quakers have welcomed Keir Starmer's conditional move to recognise Palestine at some time in the future, they appeal for urgent action now to end the horrific situation unfolding in Gaza and the West Bank.

Quakers in Britain said a statement:

Keir Starmer said last week that statehood is "the inalienable right of the Palestinian people". Yesterday he said he would recognise the state of Palestine in September if Israel failed to commit to a ceasefire and a two-state solution.

But threats to act later do not end a genocide now.

For over a decade Quakers in Britain have called for the British government to immediately recognise Palestine as a legally, politically and morally vital step on the road to justice and peace. We welcome any shift in the British government's understanding of the power of recognition. But we remain concerned about its overall approach to ending the occupation and genocide we believe Israel is committing.

The threat of future action on its own has consistently proved an ineffective means of applying pressure on the Israeli government. We are further concerned by an approach that conditions the statehood of a people on the actions and goodwill of their occupier.

Hours before Keir Starmer's announcement yesterday the United Nations and the IPC, the international famine monitoring organisation, said they are no longer warning of famine in Gaza but that famine is now underway. Only an immediate end to the violence and a flood of humanitarian aid into Gaza will avert an even larger horror from playing out. Air drops - limited by their nature and often dangerous - and periods of access will not be enough.

Recognition must therefore happen alongside an urgent set of policies to bring an end to the deaths and killing in Gaza. This includes ending all arms sales to and military cooperation with Israel, suspending the UK-Israel Trade and Partnership Agreement, and banning all trade and investment in companies profiting from the occupation and genocide.

Keir Starmer and his Cabinet must not wait a second longer to end this inhumanity. The time to take concrete action to save the lives of Palestinians being starved and killed today is now. Humanity demands nothing less.

The Archbishop of York, together with the Bishops of Southwark, Gloucester, Chelmsford and Norwich, said in a statement today:

As we continue to pray for everyone caught up in the devastating violence and suffering in Palestine and Israel, we welcome His Majesty's Government's statement yesterday calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, pledging to work with international partners on a long-term settlement, and the additional steps being taken to help get aid into Gaza.

We call upon the Israeli Government to commit to an immediate ceasefire and to desist from actions that are leading to starvation in Gaza as well as from policies leading to the progressive annexation of the West Bank.

We condemn unequivocally the Hamas terrorist attacks of October 7, 2023. The hostages should be immediately and safely released without conditions attached to their freedom.

We continue to call for an immediate end to this war and for negotiations leading to lasting justice, security and peace.

But the fact remains: a deliberate famine is being inflicted on the people of Gaza.

Air drops of aid are dangerous and entirely inadequate substitutes for what is needed: the unimpeded delivery of aid through the UN and other established humanitarian organisations.

His Majesty's Government has a legal and moral obligation to use every possible political, economic and diplomatic means at its disposable to end this abomination. This approach is clearly still not being taken - and so the urgent question remains: what more will it take?

Meanwhile the prospect of the United Kingdom recognising Palestinian statehood is welcome, overdue, and cannot come soon enough. As settlement expansion continues in the West Bank, the UK must recognise Palestine while there is still land on which a state could be recognised.

The UK has a particular historical and moral duty to recognise the State of Palestine, and it is therefore disappointing that this recognition has been made conditional. The right of the Palestinian people to self-determination is not a bargaining chip, and there can be no conditions placed on it.

We urge the Government to move ahead with recognition of Palestine regardless of the facts on the ground.

In the name of Jesus Christ, we continue in prayer each day for our Palestinian Anglican sisters and brothers and for all the Christian communities, as well as for all Palestinians, Israelis and peoples of the region.

May God bring an end to these terrible injustices and guide our feet into the way of peace.

The Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell
The Bishop of Southwark, Christopher Chessun (House of Lords Lead Bishop for the Middle East)
The Bishop of Gloucester, Rachel Treweek
The Bishop of Chelmsford, Guli Francis-Dehqani
The Bishop of Norwich, Graham Usher