Below we reproduce an interview with former Israeli Diplomat Alon Liel in which he stresses the influence the UK still has in Israel and the powerful message UK recognition of Palestine would send to the Israeli government. In 2020, Alon Liel gave a talk to the Balfour Project in which he called for an end to occupation and for equal rights for all Israelis and Palestinians, Liel outlined in this talk some of then current Israeli Government strategy, and why it is so urgent that our Government should recognise the state of Palestine alongside Israel now. Four years on he argues in the interview that the urgency is even greater.
By Imran Mulla
24 Jan 2025
Alon Liel was a key part of Israel‘s foreign service for decades. At one point an adviser to Prime Minister Ehud Barak, he later became Director General of Israel’s Foreign Ministry in 2000, making him the country’s most senior career diplomat.
In recent years, however, Liel has campaigned for the global recognition of a Palestinian state, and is a founding member of the Policy Working Group, a network of senior Israeli academics and former diplomats working to end Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory.
In an exclusive and wide-ranging interview with Middle East Eye in London, the former diplomat, now 76, argued that the United Kingdom is “uniquely placed” to help bring about a Palestinian state. “I was for 31 years an official in the Israeli Government,” said Liel. “I understand the thinking. If Britain does minor things, like banning specific arms that we’re not dependent on, or putting sanctions on settlers that were already convicted in Israeli courts, Israel can tolerate it.”
But recognising a Palestinian state, he argued, would be a much more significant move.
The British Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, recently said the UK would only recognise a Palestinian state “when we know it’s going to happen and it’s in sight”. Liel throws scorn on this idea. “If you had an Israeli government that is willing to talk, that statement would make sense.” The current Government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and containing far-right settlers, is not such an administration.
Countries are afraid of confronting Israel and Jewish communities…look what happened to Jeremy Corbyn
Liel believes that recognition of the state of Palestine, and its membership of the United Nations, is critical in bringing Israel to the negotiating table because it would give Palestinians parity with Israelis.”If Britain recognises the state of Palestine – period, not with conditions – there will be a Palestinian state,” Liel said.”Especially if Britain does it together with France.” Britain has a particular responsibility, he added. “The fact that this conflict is so complicated and so long and bloody has quite a lot to do with both the implementation of the Balfour Declaration (1917) and the situation the British left in 1948.”
Spain, Ireland, Norway and Slovenia have all recognised a Palestinian state in the last year. But Britain would be different, Liel believes. “It would be a diplomatic earthquake. We can pull our ambassadors from Spain, or from Oslo or from Dublin. But we cannot pull our ambassador from London. We cannot close our embassy in London. If our historic friends like Britain and France recognise Palestine, we cannot explain it away as antisemitism. It will have to change Israeli thinking.”
But is a two-state solution to the conflict even feasible, considering the sheer number of illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories and the difficulty of removing them? “Those issues are legitimate but we’re not there yet,” Liel said. “There is no way in existing circumstances to bring the sides into one room to even discuss it. Why fantasise?
“The majority of the Israeli public doesn’t want to speak on ending the occupation and about peace,” he said. “The word peace, and I exaggerate a little bit here, was removed from the Hebrew dictionary.”
In 2014, Liel played a key role in the successful campaign to have the British Parliament demand the recognition of a Palestinian state. The Labour Party, at that point led by Ed Miliband, voted in favour at the time. “Before the general election last year,” said Liel, “we met Labour politicians, some of whom are ministers today, who proudly told us they support recognising Palestine.”
But there was a change of tone when those politicians entered government.
“This is because Israel is still a strong country, especially militarily, technologically and on trade. When politicians enter government, they start calculating,” said Liel.”Countries are afraid of confronting Israel, and confronting Jewish communities, being accused of antisemitism. Look at what happened here to Jeremy Corbyn [the former Labour Party leader].”
Liel pointed out that “Israel stands against the whole world” by opposing a two-state solution.
“I was the spokesman for the Foreign Ministry for three years [in the late 1980s]. At noon every day there was a press conference. I would talk about land for peace. I would say we’re aiming for two states. “That was removed over 10 years ago. Now the Government’s priority is not to have a Palestinian state. Israel has backed itself into a diplomatic corner.”
How will the election of Donald Trump in the US change the equation?
Trump will take things that are important to him and compensate Israel with things important to Netanyahu
Liel said the Netanyahu Government sees Trump “as the best ever friend Israel could have at the White House. It’s like winning the lottery. Although Biden as a friend of Israel, in the eyes of the Israeli Government, Biden was seen as an enemy. Biden couldn’t stop the war. Netanyahu could always run to the Republicans, to the evangelicals and Israel’s supporters in the Congress, and he could say to the Israeli public that this is only Biden, only half of America.
“But when Trump came and supported a ceasefire, you had two administrations applying pressure. When Trump pressures Israel, it’s seen as being on behalf of the whole of America.”
Liel argued that Trump has stronger leverage over Israel than Biden did. “He likes deals and he will make deals. Trump will take things that are important to him and will compensate Israel with things that are important to Netanyahu.”
One significant component of Israeli policy, Liel believes, is that the Israeli public doesn’t comprehend the extent of global outrage over Israel’s war on Gaza. “Jews outside Israel feel the international anger much more than Israelis,” he said. “I just had dinner with Jewish friends here in London who tell me the anger towards them is unbelievable.”Jewish communities outside Israel are blamed for supporting the genocide. This terminology of the courts, or war crimes, is becoming used towards the Jews.
“The majority in every Jewish community in the world is supporting what Israel is doing, or at least not criticising it. You have more and more liberal Jews even in London that feel bad about what Israel is doing and are courageous, but not the mainstream.”
However, Liel noted, this could change in the coming years. “Out of six million Jews in the US,” he said, “somewhere between a quarter and a third feel very bad about what Israel is doing. It won’t much affect the Trump administration. But we will move towards a situation where in 10 or 20 years, maybe most of the Jewish community in the US will oppose what Israel is doing.” And that might significantly affect US foreign policy.
In the meantime, however, Liel is focused on campaigning for governments to recognise a Palestinian state. He said he remains hopeful that Britain’s Labour Government could make the move.
“With Trump in the White House, it would be quite a statement.”