Former first minister Baroness Foster signs letter warning government its Palestine policy is illegal
Former first minister Arlene Foster has signed a letter from peers warning the government that its plans to recognise a Palestinian state could break international law.
Baroness Foster put her name to the letter, signed by some of the country’s most prominent lawyers, telling the attorney general that the Palestinian territories don’t meet the criteria for official recognition as an independent nation.
The former DUP leader has also slammed the Alliance Party’s position of demanding recognition for Palestine “without conditions”. She said it “exposes their thinking as cruelly ignoring the hostages still being kept in the most horrific of conditions and rewarding a terrorist organisation with no regard for the civilian population of Gaza”.
She said all right thinking people want to see peace in Gaza, describing the loss of life has as “unbearable” – but the route that the Prime Minister is taking won’t deliver peace.
“Hamas has no concern for the people of Gaza or it would have released all the hostages which they brutally took on October 7th 2025 - that would bring an immediate end to the suffering in Gaza and release the remaining poor souls who are enduing a living hell.
“A few weeks ago I had the great privilege to listen to the testimony of two released hostages, and what they went through was almost too dreadful to listen to. I cannot imagine what the remaining hostages are being put through by the Hamas thugs who continue to torture them.
“In this context rewarding Hamas by putting all the focus on Israel is not just unfair, it will not lead to the release of those poor people kept underground in Gaza in the worst of conditions and it will not bring peace”, Baroness Foster said.
She said as well as the PM’s position causing “understandable distress”, herself and fellow peers believe the declaration is unlawful under international law.
“Under the Montevideo convention to qualify for statehood under international law a state must have a permanent population, a defined territory, a government and the capacity to enter into relations with other states. Palestine arguably meets none of these conditions”, she said.