A photograph can define an era. The ‘Big Three’ – Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill – at Yalta in 1945 carving up post-war Europe. The Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin taking the first steps on the Moon in July 1969. The image of our time, encapsulating Britain’s descent into irrelevance, was taken at Number 10 Downing Street on September 9.
It shows Keir Starmer and Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority, shaking hands. Two politicians, unsure of their place in the world, stare at the camera with uncertain smiles. One is accused of tolerating soaring anti-Semitism, a determination to reward Hamas for the October 7 terror attack and warmly hosting a Holocaust-minimiser. But enough about the prime minister. The other has been in power since January 2005, the 89-year-old doddering Brezhnev of the Levant. Abbas has steadfastly refused to hold further elections. Instead he oversees a swamp of corruption, nepotism and human rights abuses, while he rambles offensive nonsense about why the Nazis killed the Jews. Whatever comes next after the Gaza war, it is clear that for now at least, the old two-state solution is dead. Yet Starmer’s government and the Foreign Office are incapable of breaking out of a moribund framework. They still believe that the path to peace somehow goes through Ramallah, the de-facto capital of Palestine, where Abbas has his headquarters.
Ramallah and Abbas are irrelevant. What matters are the policies being crafted and the decisions being taken in Washington DC and New York. Specifically by President Trump, his son-in-law and special adviser Jared Kushner and his envoy Steve Witkoff, with significant input from Tony Blair. In recent weeks the White House has engaged in some of the most dynamic, ambitious and determined diplomacy the Middle East has ever seen. The 20-point Gaza plan envisages a rebuilt, prosperous land, freed from Hamas and governed by an apolitical Palestinian committee supervised by a new “Board of Peace”, headed by President Trump, with the support of Tony Blair. Israel will withdraw, the hostages will be exchanged for Palestinian prisoners and Hamas will be disarmed. Hamas terrorists who surrender their weapons and commit to peaceful co-existence will be granted amnesty. A new International Stabilisation Force will oversee security inside Gaza. Remarkably, the Trump plan is supported not just by Israel, but also by Turkey, Egypt, the UAE, Jordan and Qatar. In short, all the regional powers.
Britain, however, has sidelined itself. “Unfortunately Britain was at the United Nations recognising a non-existent Palestinian state, and not involved in the high-level substantive meetings between the US and regional partners that brought this deal together,” says Victoria Coates of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank close to the Trump administration.
There will be no role for the Palestinian Authority in the new arrangements until it completes a comprehensive reform programme and radical transformation. This includes creating modern, efficient and transparent governance that serves the Palestinian people rather than a clique of cronies, an end to the “lawfare” that pursues Israel through international courts and full recognition of Israel. Such ambitions are regarded as unlikely, to say the least, in Jerusalem if not Ramallah itself. The 2024 Annual Report by AMAN, a courageous Palestinian NGO, highlights the structural and endemic problems that blight Palestinian self-governance even as the West pours billions into its coffers. These include crony appointments to senior positions, restrictions on civil liberties and human rights, lack of transparency and corruption. In addition Mahmoud Abbas has repeatedly got into hot water for his rambling, incoherent Holocaust revisionism.
The Palestinians’ leader, long-part his sell-by date, will likely step down soon. In public President Trump was polite about Britain’s decision to follow France and other countries and recognise Palestine. In fact the administration was furious.
“It was a bridge-burner with Washington DC. It was a very damaging move and a huge strategic mistake. It will foster a lack of trust in the British government,” says Nile Gardiner, also at the Heritage Foundation. British foreign policy is now seen at the White House as driven by party political concerns: the fear of the British Muslim community and their woke progressive allies, whose votes are steadily eating into Labour majorities across the country. Recognising Palestine will do little to stop this process. The five pro-Gaza MPs will likely see their numbers increase by multiples in the next election.
Hamas is now considering its response to the Trump plan. President Trump has made it crystal clear that if it refuses these terms, Israel will have a free hand to pursue the remnants of the terrorist group. With Hamas’s allies and benefactors such as Qatar and Turkey backing the proposal it seems likely that diplomatic arm-twisting will result in acceptance. All this is a huge missed opportunity for Britain, which could have a lot to offer in stabilising Gaza. Britain sits on the UN Security Council. Britain was the mandatory power in Palestine until 1948. The Foreign Office has a powerful institutional memory. Perhaps Tony Blair will be able to draw on some of this.
Yet under Labour Britain has marginalised itself into irrelevance. Not through accident or happenstance but as a deliberate policy choice, choosing empty virtue-signalling to its wavering voters rather than the tough work of crafting real-world compromises. Another photograph will also define this long moment in Middle East history, one of just two men: President Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu.
Adam LeBor is currently writing “The Promised Land: The History of Modern Israel”
A photograph can define an era. The ‘Big Three’ – Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill – at Yalta in 1945 carving up post-war Europe. The Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin taking the first steps on the Moon in July 1969. The image of our time, encapsulating Britain’s descent into irrelevance, was taken at Number 10 Downing Street on September 9.
It shows Keir Starmer and Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority, shaking hands. Two politicians, unsure of their place in the world, stare at the camera with uncertain smiles. One is accused of tolerating soaring anti-Semitism, a determination to reward Hamas for the October 7 terror attack and warmly hosting a Holocaust-minimiser. But enough about the prime minister. The other has been in power since January 2005, the 89-year-old doddering Brezhnev of the Levant. Abbas has steadfastly refused to hold further elections. Instead he oversees a swamp of corruption, nepotism and human rights abuses, while he rambles offensive nonsense about why the Nazis killed the Jews. Whatever comes next after the Gaza war, it is clear that for now at least, the old two-state solution is dead. Yet Starmer’s government and the Foreign Office are incapable of breaking out of a moribund framework. They still believe that the path to peace somehow goes through Ramallah, the de-facto capital of Palestine, where Abbas has his headquarters.
Ramallah and Abbas are irrelevant. What matters are the policies being crafted and the decisions being taken in Washington DC and New York. Specifically by President Trump, his son-in-law and special adviser Jared Kushner and his envoy Steve Witkoff, with significant input from Tony Blair. In recent weeks the White House has engaged in some of the most dynamic, ambitious and determined diplomacy the Middle East has ever seen. The 20-point Gaza plan envisages a rebuilt, prosperous land, freed from Hamas and governed by an apolitical Palestinian committee supervised by a new “Board of Peace”, headed by President Trump, with the support of Tony Blair. Israel will withdraw, the hostages will be exchanged for Palestinian prisoners and Hamas will be disarmed. Hamas terrorists who surrender their weapons and commit to peaceful co-existence will be granted amnesty. A new International Stabilisation Force will oversee security inside Gaza. Remarkably, the Trump plan is supported not just by Israel, but also by Turkey, Egypt, the UAE, Jordan and Qatar. In short, all the regional powers.
Britain, however, has sidelined itself. “Unfortunately Britain was at the United Nations recognising a non-existent Palestinian state, and not involved in the high-level substantive meetings between the US and regional partners that brought this deal together,” says Victoria Coates of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank close to the Trump administration.
There will be no role for the Palestinian Authority in the new arrangements until it completes a comprehensive reform programme and radical transformation. This includes creating modern, efficient and transparent governance that serves the Palestinian people rather than a clique of cronies, an end to the “lawfare” that pursues Israel through international courts and full recognition of Israel. Such ambitions are regarded as unlikely, to say the least, in Jerusalem if not Ramallah itself. The 2024 Annual Report by AMAN, a courageous Palestinian NGO, highlights the structural and endemic problems that blight Palestinian self-governance even as the West pours billions into its coffers. These include crony appointments to senior positions, restrictions on civil liberties and human rights, lack of transparency and corruption. In addition Mahmoud Abbas has repeatedly got into hot water for his rambling, incoherent Holocaust revisionism.
The Palestinians’ leader, long-part his sell-by date, will likely step down soon. In public President Trump was polite about Britain’s decision to follow France and other countries and recognise Palestine. In fact the administration was furious.
“It was a bridge-burner with Washington DC. It was a very damaging move and a huge strategic mistake. It will foster a lack of trust in the British government,” says Nile Gardiner, also at the Heritage Foundation. British foreign policy is now seen at the White House as driven by party political concerns: the fear of the British Muslim community and their woke progressive allies, whose votes are steadily eating into Labour majorities across the country. Recognising Palestine will do little to stop this process. The five pro-Gaza MPs will likely see their numbers increase by multiples in the next election.
Hamas is now considering its response to the Trump plan. President Trump has made it crystal clear that if it refuses these terms, Israel will have a free hand to pursue the remnants of the terrorist group. With Hamas’s allies and benefactors such as Qatar and Turkey backing the proposal it seems likely that diplomatic arm-twisting will result in acceptance. All this is a huge missed opportunity for Britain, which could have a lot to offer in stabilising Gaza. Britain sits on the UN Security Council. Britain was the mandatory power in Palestine until 1948. The Foreign Office has a powerful institutional memory. Perhaps Tony Blair will be able to draw on some of this.
Yet under Labour Britain has marginalised itself into irrelevance. Not through accident or happenstance but as a deliberate policy choice, choosing empty virtue-signalling to its wavering voters rather than the tough work of crafting real-world compromises. Another photograph will also define this long moment in Middle East history, one of just two men: President Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu.
Adam LeBor is currently writing “The Promised Land: The History of Modern Israel”