Letter: Israel aside, both the British and Irish governments should recognise the two-state solution on their own doorstep
A letter from R G McDowell:
The UK has now followed Ireland amongst other countries in recognising Palestine as a state.
While I am not necessarily opposed to this I would prefer to have seen it taking place in the context of a deal that Israel was a party to. It seems an odd arrangement to take against the wishes of an ally in a territory they are effectively in control off.
That having been said, it is easy to see why the UK government feels the need to in someway make a gesture towards the Palestinian people in the face of the horrendous humanitarian crisis they have had to endure.
If this was intended as some sort of punishment towards Israel or means of applying pressure (and I concede however much I want to support Israel the scale of the humanitarian disaster is impossible to defend) we need to ask - have the British and Irish governments set a proper example?
While recognising Israel often puts themselves at risk by issuing warnings of their operations and being impressed by the skill of some of their anti-terrorist operations, I believe Israel has gone too far in terms of civilian casualties which I think has backfired on them in terms of creating international support for a Palestinian state.
I believe it is incredibly hypocritical however for the British and Irish governments to lecture Israel on the importance of supporting a two-state solution when they aren’t fully recognising the two-state solution on their own door step.
Ireland also has two populations with an Ulster British population in addition to people who primarily see themselves as Irish.
Since the introduction of the Irish Sea border, the British and Irish governments have refused to fully recognise Northern Ireland’s border and its full membership of the United Kingdom.
The British and Irish governments cannot reasonably criticise Israel for not recognising Palestine for which Britain and Ireland have no direct responsibility when they refuse to recognise the agreed borders of Northern Ireland for which they do have responsibility.
R G McDowell, Belfast BT5