Over the past two days a handful of countries have recognised Palestinian statehood at the UN General Assembly. Given that 137 nations had previously done the same, it might suggest that this was simply an incremental move, but in fact it was much more significant than that.

The first important shift lies in which countries have added their names to the list – in particular France (which has been a driving force in all of this) and the UK. After all, President Macron and PM Starmer lead two out of just five permanent members of the UN Security Council – the only countries with a full veto over membership.

Their change of position, which brings them into line with two other members – China and Russia (on this issue alone, of course) – means that the US is now the only so-called P5 membe

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