David Cameron, Britain’s foreign secretary, has signaled that Britain is willing to move up conversations about formally recognizing a Palestinian state, saying that his country and other allies should show Palestinians “irreversible progress” toward that long-sought goal.
Mr. Cameron, speaking to the Conservative Middle East Council, an organization that promotes discussion about the region among the Conservative Party, said on Monday that showing progress toward a two-state solution was essential to negotiating peace, and called Israel’s security policies of the last three decades “a failure.”
The British government has long held the position that it would only recognize a Palestinian state at the “right time” in the peace process with Israel, and Mr. Cameron’s comments, in London, suggested that Britain may be aiming to do that sooner.
A top priority “is to give the Palestinian people a political horizon so that they can see that there is going to be irreversible progress to a two-state solution and crucially the establishment of a Palestinian state,” Mr. Cameron said, according to the BBC, which reported his remarks.
On Tuesday, a spokesman for the prime minister said that Mr. Cameron’s comments were not a departure from the government’s longstanding position about a Palestinian state.
“Our position has not changed on recognition of a Palestinian state: We would do so at a time that best serves the cause of peace,” the spokesman said. “The U.K. for its part, and I think along with its allies, continues to believe that a two-state solution protects the peace and security of both Israelis and Palestinians.”
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