Overview

• U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, after recognizing a Palestinian state, is poised to require the Palestinian Authority to cancel the Martyrs Fund before any meaningful diplomatic steps proceed.
• The U.K. plan also contemplates revised school curricula and new elections as part of a coordinated effort with partners including France, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Luxembourg, Portugal and Malta.
• Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said previous payments to prisoners and martyrs are being abolished, replaced by a unified social welfare program under international audit.
• Abbas pledged elections under international observation within a year of the Gaza war’s end and said participants must adhere to the PLO charter, a condition that would exclude Hamas.
• Starmer framed recognition as a bid to keep a two‑state outcome viable and condemned Hamas as a terrorist group, while critics argue the move rewards militants and could complicate diplomacy and security ties.