News- Middle East: UK advocacy group CAGE International says London’s ​​​​​​long-overdue recognition of the Palestinian state is an attempt to whitewash Britain’s historical complicity in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.

"The UK government’s recognition of Palestine comes 77 years too late, without any accountability for Britain’s own role in establishing the Israeli settler-colonial entity,” said Anas Mustapha, Head of Public Advocacy at CAGE, referencing the 1917 Balfour Declaration, which paved the way for the establishment of Israel in 1948.

“After decades of supporting occupation and human rights abuses, and two years into a live-streamed genocide, the public will not be fooled by Western leaders now trying to disguise their own complicity, as if they have suddenly gained a conscience,” he added.

Mustapha's remarks come as the UK continues to supply Israel with weapons and military components, most notably for F-35 fighter jets, used in attacks that have killed tens of thousands of Palestinians in the besieged strip.

He said Israel’s actions have “shattered any prospect of a workable two-state solution.”

“The only lasting solution for peace is the dismantling of the Israeli apartheid regime and ensuring liberation, justice, and dignity for the Palestinian people.”

The UK's move to recognize the Palestinian state comes as London continues to refuse to acknowledge that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

Earlier this month, UK ministers told parliament that the country has not concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, nor that any of the British-made parts for F-35 jets sold to Israel have directly led to breaches of international humanitarian law. 

 A UN inquiry has found that "Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip."

Earlier this month, the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) passed a resolution declaring that Israel has “engaged in systematic and widespread crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide.”

Many international and Palestinian human rights groups have also termed Israel's war on Gaza as genocidal, including two leading Israeli organizations, B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights (PHR). 

Israel's genocidal war on Gaza started on October 7, 2023, after Palestinian resistance fighters waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the Zionist entity in response to the regime's decades-long campaign of death and devastation against the Palestinians.

The Zionist regime’s bloody onslaught on the besieged strip has so far killed more than 65,344 Palestinians, mostly women and children.

Source: Press TV