By Aysu Bicer
LONDON (AA) - The Scottish National Party has called on the UK government to immediately recognize a Palestinian state after Israel’s far-right finance minister unveiled plans to block a two-state solution.
“There should be no conditions on recognizing Palestinian statehood and this should be all the evidence (Prime Minister) Keir Starmer needs to drop the strings he’s needlessly attached to that process,” the party’s Middle East spokesperson Brendan O'Hara told Scottish daily The National on Thursday.
Israel’s Bezalel Smotrich announced on Wednesday that he would approve the construction of more than 3,000 homes in the occupied West Bank. The controversial scheme, which faces strong opposition internationally and within Israel, would effectively sever the West Bank from occupied East Jerusalem.
Smotrich told Israeli media the plan would “bury the idea of a Palestinian state” because, in his words, “there is nothing to recognize and no one to recognize.”
Starmer said last month that the UK would recognize a Palestinian state in September unless Israel agrees to a ceasefire in Gaza and revives the prospect of a two-state solution.
But the Scottish National Party said the new settlement plans meant those conditions should be dropped, and recognition should happen immediately.