By Andrew Whitley, Balfour Project Chair
10 February 2025
The Balfour Project believes that no solution proposed by the Trump administration will accord with international law, which the UK is committed to uphold
The United States is essential to a just resolution in Israel/Palestine. But it has long been clear that Washington is not an honest broker. Instead, it consistently clears its initiatives first with the Government of Israel, then tells Palestinian leaders to take it or leave it.
Now, a US President has gone much further, openly supporting the ethnic cleansing of 2.2m Gazan Palestinians. The Balfour Project believes that under President Trump no US-backed “peace initiative” or proposed solution to the conflict will be consistent with international law; the rule of law which the British Government has pledged to uphold. Nor is it likely that Palestinians will be able to exercise their fundamental rights to self-determination and an end to occupation if the US is allowed to act alone.
The United Kingdom played a leading role in setting up the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 1998, to investigate credible evidence of war crimes and to hold to account those individuals found to have committed serious breaches of international law. It has acted, for example, against President Putin for his actions in Ukraine.
In relation to Israel and Palestine, however, far from respecting the independence of the Court, the US has imposed sanctions on its Chief Prosecutor and those who provide evidence. Trump’s punitive action against Karim Khan, a distinguished British lawyer, has not evoked even mild protest from the UK Government.
Israel’s 58-year settlement enterprise in East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank has long been condemned as illegal by Trump’s predecessors in office and by the UN Security Council. UN Security Council Resolution 2334 (December 2016), which Britain helped draft, obliges all UN member states, including the US, “to distinguish in their relevant dealings between the territory of the State of Israel and the territories occupied since 1967.”
The International Court of Justice (World Court) Advisory Opinion last year went further, finding the 1967 occupation to be unlawful and specifying a set of concrete actions all states should take to end it.
Comments by President Trump himself and senior officials in his administration however suggest that, within weeks, he is likely to give explicit US endorsement to Israel’s continued unlawful occupation, and even annexation, of the West Bank. For the next four years, he will seek to preserve Israel’s impunity and exceptional treatment, preventing the Security Council from even voicing disapproval of Israel’s actions.
What the UK Government should do in response
Our Government is fully aware of these facts and is struggling to reconcile its principles with the wish to appease its most powerful ally; an impossible task. It should acknowledge that dilemma and act accordingly – upholding universal values and promoting British interests, not least our country’s standing in the rest of the world.
The UK should make common cause with like-minded governments in Europe, the Middle East, the Global South and the Commonwealth to adopt policies which uphold international law and offer the prospect of peaceful coexistence between Palestinians and Israelis, based on the right of both to self-determination with mutual security.
Specifically, our Government should:
- Conclude, with regret, that this Israeli Government has rejected the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel and will continue to refuse genuine peace negotiations. For our Government simply to continue saying it supports a two-state solution will not change that reality. No incentive has been given to Israel to change course
- Uphold the Palestinian right to self-determination alongside Israel by recognising the State of Palestine on the territory defined by the ICJ as unlawfully occupied by Israel since June 1967: East Jerusalem, the rest of the West Bank and Gaza
- Endorse the findings of the ICJ Advisory Opinion and act to implement them, while defending the independence and integrity of the ICJ, ICC and other international law mechanisms in an even-handed and consistent manner; lend public support to the ICC Chief Prosecutor – the person it nominated to the post
- Reaffirm the application of the Fourth Geneva Convention to Israel’s belligerent occupation of that territory and support Swiss efforts to uphold the integrity of the Geneva Conventions
- Call longstanding Israeli practices in the West Bank by their name – apartheid – and illegal settlements and the extension of Israeli domestic law to the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) by their name – annexation – and act against them
- Strengthen and secure international support for the UK’s policy on Gaza: a permanent ceasefire, with the release of all hostages and Palestinians arbitrarily detained since October 2023, unhindered international humanitarian aid and Palestinian agency to administer the rebuilding of Gaza
- Advance the political, social and economic reunification of Gaza with the rest of the OPT, including East Jerusalem, rejecting Israeli efforts to prevent the UN operating in what must be the future capital of an independent Palestinian state.
The UK has the power bilaterally to recognise the State of Palestine, in line with a large majority of other UN member states, including several European allies of the UK. It is not the only action our Government needs to take, but it is one needed now. Recognition of both states is the UK’s longstanding policy. It will also encourage like-minded partners – including France, our fellow UNSC permanent member – to do so.
Long-term peace in the Middle East requires equal respect for the rights of Israelis and Palestinians, whether or not the US President takes the same view. Upholding the rule of law is both a universal value and a direct British national interest. When the law is broken and we do nothing to stop it, we here are put at risk. It is time for us to act.