Ramallah: Britain’s foreign minister said on Wednesday that his country remains “absolutely” committed to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and that obstacles to a deal, including accelerated Israeli colony building, must be removed.
Boris Johnson said he believes it’s still possible to set up a state of Palestine alongside Israel and that the leadership change in Washington might offer an opportunity.
“There is a willingness to look at things with fresh eyes,” Johnson said after meeting with Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki in the city of Ramallah, the base of the Palestinian autonomy government in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
President Donald Trump, in a break from his predecessors, has given mixed signals about whether the United States still supports a two-state solution.
His election has emboldened Israeli hardliners who oppose the establishment of a Palestinian state, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently stopped short of endorsing the idea.
Palestinians want to establish their state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, lands Israel captured and occupied in the 1967 Mideast war.
Israelis and Palestinians have not held meaningful talks since gaps widened with the 2009 election of hardliner Netanyahu. The Palestinian political split between Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas and his Islamist Hamas rivals has also harmed diplomatic efforts.
Johnson was to meet with Netanyahu later Wednesday, after holding talks with Abbas.
Standing next to Malki on a podium, near a “State of Palestine” seal, Johnson said that “the policy of our government in the UK is absolutely unchanged, we remain committed to a two-state solution, to that vision for the resolution of this conflict.”
“I really think it is possible,” Johnson said. “We must not abandon that prospect.”
Israel’s ongoing expansion of Jewish colonies on war-won lands has led to growing scepticism about whether a two-state deal remains possible.
Johnson acknowledged the challenges, including “the accelerated pace of colony building, the accelerated pace of demolitions.”
“Those are also the barriers in the path of a two-state solution, and we have to work to remove those barriers,” he said.
In November 2015, while mayor of London, Johnson had led a trade mission to the region, but the West Bank segment unravelled after he criticised a Palestinian-led movement of boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel. Two of his meetings, with Palestinian youth and female business leaders, were called off at the time in protest over what was perceived as a pro-Israel stance.
