UK International Secretary Yvette Cooper stated Monday that the British authorities has warned Israel to not annex elements of the West Financial institution in retaliation for Britain and different Western international locations’ recognition of Palestinian statehood.
A spokesperson for the German authorities, which has held off on recognizing a Palestinian state, additionally stated in a press release that there should be no additional annexation of Palestinian territories by Israel.
The statements got here a day after Britain, Australia, Canada and Portugal acknowledged Palestinian statehood. Six extra international locations — France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Malta, San Marino and Andorra — are set to announce their recognition of Palestinian statehood on Monday throughout a French- and Saudi-hosted United Nations summit on the two-state answer to the Israeli-Palestinian battle, forward of world leaders’ addresses to the UN Normal Meeting.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected the recognitions in addition to the concept of Palestinian statehood, and vowed to reply upon his return from the UN. Some authorities ministers are pushing Israel to annex a part of the West Financial institution in response to the wave of recognitions, which they are saying reward the Hamas-led bloodbath of October 7, 2023, that sparked the struggle in Gaza.
Israel has managed the West Financial institution because the Six Day Conflict of June 1967, and its settlements there are thought of unlawful by most international locations besides the US. Saudi Arabia, with which Israel has sought to normalize relations, has reportedly warned that annexation of the West Financial institution would have “main implications.” The UAE, with which Israel has relations, has additionally called annexation a “pink line.”
Talking to the BBC forward of the two-state answer summit on Monday, Cooper stated she has “been clear” in conversations together with her Israeli counterpart Gideon Sa’ar that Britain’s recognition of Palestinian statehood was in Israel’s curiosity, and that Israel should not reply by annexing elements of the West Financial institution.
Outcomes are displayed throughout a United Nations Normal Meeting assembly to vote on the two-state answer to the Israeli-Palestinian battle at UN headquarters in New York on September 12, 2025. (ANGELA WEISS / AFP)
“I’ve been clear to the Israeli international minister [and] we’ve got been clear to the Israeli authorities that they have to not do this,” stated Cooper. “We have now been clear that this resolution that we’re taking is about one of the simplest ways to respect the safety for Israel in addition to the safety for Palestinians.”
“It’s about defending peace and justice and crucially safety for the Center East, and we are going to proceed to work with everybody throughout the area so as to have the ability to do this,” she stated.
Cooper added that the UK had an ethical obligation to maintain the two-state answer alive whilst “extremists on all sides” needed it useless.
“The straightforward factor to do can be to simply stroll away and to say, ‘Nicely, it’s all simply too laborious, ‘” Cooper stated. “We simply suppose that’s incorrect after we’ve seen such devastation, such struggling.”
“Simply as we acknowledge Israel, the state of Israel … so we should additionally acknowledge the rights for the Palestinians to a state of their very own as effectively,” she stated.
Illustrative: A common view of recent buildings being constructed within the Israeli settlement of Aliyah, south of Nablus within the West Financial institution, Could 21, 2025. (Nasser Ishtayeh/Flash90)
Cooper additionally stated that following Britain’s recognition of Palestinian statehood, the Palestinian Authority may now “arrange an embassy” within the UK and title the pinnacle of the mission as an envoy.
The British consulate common in East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed after the Six Day Conflict however which the Palestinian Authority calls for because the capital for a future state, wouldn’t but grow to be an embassy, stated Cooper.
“The consulate common in Jerusalem has been there for longer than the existence of the Israeli state, so it would proceed, and that can proceed for now, and we are going to set out… the diplomatic processes with the Palestinian Authority concerning the subsequent steps ahead,” she stated.
Reuters contributed to this report.
