'Correcting historic injustice': Palestinian ambassador marks UK recognition of Palestine

By Aysu Bicer

LONDON (AA) - The UK’s formal recognition of the state of Palestine was hailed on Monday as a “historic beginning” by Ambassador Husam Zomlot, head of the Palestinian mission to the UK.

Speaking to Anadolu after a ceremony in London, Zomlot alluded to Britain’s 1917 Balfour Declaration, which laid the groundwork for the founding of the state of Israel. He described Britain’s newfound recognition as a step toward “correcting a historic injustice that has been committed by the colonial era of Britain, promising our land without consulting us, giving it away and turning us, the native population, the cradle of civilizations, the most rooted of nations, into communities.”

He framed the UK’s move not as an endpoint, but as the start of a larger process aimed at ending occupation, achieving accountability, and securing Palestinian sovereignty:

“This is not a destination, far from it. This is merely, the very beginning of a workshop, a real workshop,” he said.

“So we get the UK and the rest of the world to fulfill their own legal obligations, to end the genocide, to bring the war criminals to accountability behind bars, implement the ICC (International Criminal Court) arrest warrant against … war criminals in Israel, to impose a full arms embargo on a state that commits genocide, and to impose full sanctions, comprehensive sanctions, on the ecosystem of the unlawful occupation, of the illegal settlements.”

Last November, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.

- 'What we need to do now is to end the denial of genocide'

Zomlot stressed that tangible steps must follow recognition: “This recognition must be followed by concrete, tangible, real steps to end the occupation, to end the colonization, to end the siege, and to establish the independent sovereign state of Palestine, with Jerusalem as its capital, and to uphold the rights of the Palestinian refugees enshrined in their own private rights for their private properties, but also enshrined in international law.”

Decrying the ongoing crisis in Gaza, he called for an end to denial of genocide and immediate humanitarian action.

“What we need to do now is to end the denial of genocide, because some are still denying genocide, even after the … (UN) inquiry came out only last week, confirming that this is genocide, you still have people and politicians who deny that Israel is committing genocide for the last two years in Gaza, that it is committing ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, that this is a campaign of … annihilation.”

UN investigators last week concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, where over 65,000 people have been killed since October 2023.

The onslaught has displaced hundreds of thousands alongside a blockade on humanitarian aid that has led to famine and claimed the lives of at least 442 Palestinians, including 147 children.

Zomlot concluded with a direct call to international accountability: “Moving from here, we must immediately turn our attention to end the killings, end the destruction, end the starvation and this agony that Israel is imposing on our people and the use of food, the use of medicine, the use of water as a weapon of war, and from the move towards real international accountability."

On Sunday, the UK, Canada, Australia, and Portugal announced their recognition of Palestine, bringing the total number of UN member states that have taken this step to 153 out of 193.

Eleven other countries, including Malta, Luxembourg, France, Belgium, and Armenia, have also signaled plans to recognize the state of Palestine during this week’s UN General Assembly in New York, where world leaders are convening for high-level discussions.