Corbyn: Labour government would recognize 'Palestine'

British Labour leader says a Labour-led government would recognize “Palestine” as a state.

Elad Benari,

Jeremy Corbyn
Jeremy Corbyn

British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said in a tweet that a Labour-led government would recognize “Palestine” as a state, JTA reported Sunday.

Corbyn’s tweet came while on a tour of camps in Jordan for Syrian and people registered as Palestinian refugees as part of his first international trip outside of Europe since becoming Labour leader in 2015.

“Today I’ll visit the Al-Baqa’a refugee camp which was first created in 1968, where 100,000 Palestinians live. The next Labour government will recognize Palestine as a state as one step towards a genuine two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict,” he wrote.

On Friday, during a tour of Zaatari, Jordan’s largest camp for Syrian refugees, Corbyn criticized the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump for recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and called moving the U.S. Embassy there a “catastrophic mistake.”

“I think there has to be a recognition of the rights of the Palestinian people to their own state which we as a Labour party said we would recognize in government as a full state as part of the United Nations,” he said, according to JTA.

A Palestinian state would be recognized “very early on” under a Labour government, added Corbyn.

Corbyn has repeatedly been criticized for his failure to deal with the anti-Semtiism among members of the Labour party.

He himself has in the past come under fire due to his calling Hamas and Hezbollah his "friends" and for refusing to condemn those two terrorist organizations despite being urged to do so by local Jewish groups.


At the same time, the party has also readmitted or refrained from punishing other members who made statements perceived as anti-Semitic.

Corbyn last November called for the UK to mark the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration by recognizing “Palestine”.

"Let us mark the Balfour anniversary by recognizing Palestine as a step towards a genuine two-state solution of the Israel-Palestine conflict, increasing international pressure for an end to the 50-year occupation of the Palestinian territories, illegal settlement expansion and the blockade of Gaza,” he wrote in a statement at the time.

Previously, Labour's shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry similarly called on the British government to mark the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration by formally recognizing a Palestinian state.