British Government set to recognise Palestinian sovereignty over Judaism’s holiest sites

The British government has been unable to confirm whether its planned unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state in September will lead to it recognising Judaism’s holiest sites as being under Palestinian sovereignty.

On Monday morning, the Prime Minister’s office spokesperson responded to a question from a Parliamentary Lobby journalist, Ben Bloch of Sky News, about the borders of a Palestinian state which the UK would recognise. The spokesperson referred to a Memorandum of Understanding signed by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the Palestinian Authority in April. The document in question refers to recognising a two-state solution “based on 1967 lines”.

The 1967 lines, also known as the Green Line, refers to the borders from 1949-1967 – when Egypt controlled Gaza and Jordan controlled both East Jerusalem and the West Bank. During this period, Jordan controlled the Old City of Jerusalem, including the city’s historic Jewish Quarter – ethnically cleansed of its Jewish community in 1948 – as well as both the Western Wall and the Temple Mount.

While the FCDO’s long-term position has been that of recognising a two-state solution based on the 1967 lines, this has not previously proved controversial – largely due to the fact that recognition of a Palestinian state was traditionally predicated on coming at a later stage of a process worked out by Israel and the Palestinians, where one would naturally assume that the issue would be worked out between the two.

However, the British government’s sudden policy shift, with Keir Starmer’s announcement last week of the UK’s planned unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state by September, has changed the situation. As things stand, the UK is currently in a position where it looks set to recognise Palestinian sovereignty over the Old City of Jerusalem, the Western Wall and the Temple Mount – Judaism’s Holiest site – with the potential to cause serious diplomatic ruptures.

In a message on Sunday published on social media, Israel’s Defence Minister, Israel Katz, posted pictures of himself at the Western Wall, where he had gone on the Fast of Tisha B’Av, which commemorates the destruction of both the First and Second Temples on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

“On Tisha B’Av, two thousand years after the destruction of the Second Temple, the Western Wall and the Temple Mount are again under the sovereignty of the State of Israel,” he wrote.

“Israel haters around the world continue to make decisions against us and protest, and we will strengthen our hold and sovereignty over Jerusalem, at the Western Wall, and the Temple Mount, forever,” he added.

The FCDO has been contacted for comment.