"Two blocks from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence in West Jerusalem, where Balfour and Gaza Streets meet behind layers of steel barricades and weekly pro-hostage rallies, a tiny cornerside cafe, oddly unnamed and half-hidden, buzzed with mid-morning chatter. As phones lit up with news that United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer had announced formal recognition of a Palestinian state, a few patrons looked up, while others shrugged."
"But the UK's recognition of Palestine, while not a United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) vote like Israel's in 1948, could still set off a wave. The decision marks the first time a major Western power that once held the Mandate for Palestine given to Britain by the UN predecessor, The League of Nations, after the end of World War I to administer what is today the area that includes Gaza, the West Bank and Israel has formally recognised Palestinian statehood."
"Of course I'm angry, said Shira Hazan, 55, a shop owner and longtime supporter of Netanyahu's Likud party. But what changes? Britain doesn't bury our soldiers. It's just politics while Iran is shooting at us. A man sitting next to her, like most of those at the cafe, waved the headline off with a flick of the hand, treating it as little more than background noise. It's colonial arrogance, nothing less, he said, wearing a knitted kippah."
In West Jerusalem a small cafe near Prime Minister Netanyahu's residence buzzed as patrons reacted to the United Kingdom's formal recognition of a Palestinian state. Reactions ranged from anger and dismissal to labeling the move as colonial arrogance. The UK's recognition marks the first time a major Western power that once held the Mandate for Palestine has formally recognised Palestinian statehood, and came alongside recognitions from Australia and Canada. The coordinated recognitions are increasing diplomatic pressure on Israel and precede a UN General Assembly summit and a France–Saudi Arabia initiative to revive the two-state solution.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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