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Shameful U-turn as UK and France abandon plans to recognise Palestinian state at peace conference

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech in front of humanitarian aid destined to Gaza, at the Egyptian Red Crescent warehouse in Egypt’s northeastern city of Arish in the north of the Sinai peninsula, about 55 kilometres west of the border with the Gaza Strip, on 8 April 2025. [LUDOVIC MARIN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images]

Plans by the UK and France to recognise a Palestinian state at an upcoming international peace conference in New York this month have been shelved, marking yet another U-turn just weeks after both governments signalled support for Palestinian self-determination in response to Israel’s genocide in Gaza and ongoing ethnic cleansing in the occupied West Bank.

The three-day conference, scheduled between 17-20 June and co-sponsored by France and Saudi Arabia, was initially framed as a diplomatic breakthrough that could see major Western powers recognise Palestinian statehood as a matter of principle. However, diplomats have now confirmed to the Guardian that the event will instead focus on vague “steps towards recognition.”

The reversal comes despite recent pledges by both London and Paris to re-evaluate their approach in light of Israel’s devastating military campaign in Gaza, which has killed over 55,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and the aggressive settlement expansion in the illegally occupied West Bank. Israeli officials have recently approved 22 new settlements, in what Defence Minister Yoav Gallant described as “a strategic move that prevents the establishment of a Palestinian state.”

Read: US warns UK, France against recognising Palestinian State

French President Emmanuel Macron had previously declared Palestinian statehood a “moral duty and political requirement,” but according to officials who briefed Israeli counterparts this week, recognition will no longer be announced at the conference. Instead, it is being repositioned as a distant outcome contingent on a series of conditions, including a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, the release of Israeli captives, and the restructuring of the Palestinian Authority to exclude Hamas.

The UK government, which has faced increasing pressure from MPs to take stronger measures against Israel, has taken a similar position.

According to the Guardian, British and French officials now view recognition not as a moral position or legal obligation, but as a reward contingent on the compliance of Palestinians with a framework shaped largely by Israel’s priorities. The Israeli public, however, has largely abandoned the idea of a two-state solution. According to figures cited by the Guardian, just 20 per cent of Israelis support the creation of a Palestinian state, while a staggering 56 per cent of Jewish Israelis back the “transfer” of Palestinian citizens of Israel to other countries, an explicit endorsement of ethnic cleansing.

Meanwhile, public support for Palestinian statehood continues to grow across Europe. Ireland, Spain and Norway formally recognised Palestine last year, and several Conservative MPs in Britain, including former Attorney General Sir Jeremy Wright, have broken ranks to endorse recognition.

Read: Labour MPs push Foreign Office to back Palestinian statehood at French-Saudi UN summit

Saudi Arabia, the conference’s co-host, has repeatedly accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, and there appears little prospect of Riyadh normalising relations with Tel Aviv. Analysts note that France’s vision of mutual recognition, Western states recognising Palestine in exchange for Arab normalisation with Israel, is rapidly collapsing in the face of Israeli escalation and public outrage across the Arab world.

Palestinians and their supporters are likely to view this latest shift as yet another instance of Western duplicity, offering rhetorical support while continuing to shield Israel from accountability. The Elders, a group of former global statesmen, urged Macron in an open letter to treat recognition as a “transformative step toward peace,” and not to view the self-determination of Palestinians as a chip to be negotiated with Israel.

Read: 80% of Israeli Jews support US President Trump’s proposal to ethnically cleanse Gaza, survey finds

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Continue ReadingShameful U-turn as UK and France abandon plans to recognise Palestinian state at peace conference

Iran condemns fresh US sanctions

Original article by Abdul Rahman republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Esmail Baghaei, spokesperson for Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Photo: MFA

Iran claimed the proposed nuclear deal submitted May 31 by the US did not reflect the essence of the five rounds of indirect talks between the two countries.

On Sunday, June 9, Iran condemned a fresh round of US sanctions on its citizens and commercial entities, calling them a reflection of the US’s long-standing hostility towards the country and its people. 

Esmail Baghaei, spokesperson for Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, described the sanctions as a flagrant violation of international laws and another attempt to deny Iranians their fundamental rights and increase their hardships.  

The administration of Donald Trump issued fresh sanctions against dozens of individuals and entities in Iran on Saturday, continuing its so-called maximum pressure campaign to force Iran to abandon its nuclear program. 

The sanctions targeted the individuals and entities involved in banking and other commercial activities. Some of the entities are based in Hong Kong and the UAE. The US targeted them by accusing them of being involved in “money laundering” and “shadow banking” activities for sanctioned entities, such as the National Iranian Tanker Company. 

NITC is sanctioned for its involvement in the export of Iranian oil which is targeted by the US as part of its maximum pressure campaign. The US has alleged that proceeds from the oil trade are used for the development of nuclear weapons by Iran. 

Iran has claimed it has every right to have a peaceful civil nuclear program as a signatory of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and denied it has any intention to develop nuclear weapons. It has termed US sanctions against it illegal and a violation of its sovereignty and demanded their immediate withdrawal.     

The new sanctions were announced despite ongoing talks between Iran and the US on the nuclear issue. On May 31, the US submitted a proposal for a deal after five rounds of indirect talks. 

Reflecting on the content of the US proposal, Baghaei said on Monday that it did not reflect the essence of the talks so far. He claimed that Iran is preparing its own proposal for a deal which will be submitted to the US through Oman in the coming days.

Iran has repeatedly made it clear that it will not consider any proposal for a deal if it is asked to abandon its peaceful nuclear program and sanctions imposed by the US are not lifted completely.   

IAEA must not be politicized 

Meanwhile, Russia warned on Sunday that any anti-Iran resolutions in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) board of governors meeting scheduled to begin on Monday will not “bring positive results.” 

Russia’s permanent representative to Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, claimed that the expected anti-Iran resolution by European signatories of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – the UK, France, and Germany in collaboration with the US – would be counterproductive for the ongoing peace efforts. 

Ulyanov was referring to the reports in western media which claimed that E3 along with the US have already drafted a resolution against Iran to be presented during the IAEA meeting. The draft accuses Iran of non-compliance in its safeguard obligations for the first time in two decades. 

The resolution is part of E3’s threats of invoking snapback sanctions against Iran, which were withdrawn following the signing of the JCPOA in 2015 by a resolution in the UN Security Council.   

The European signatories of the JCPOA have recently been following the US line on the Iran nuclear program. In the years following the US unilateral withdrawal from the deal in May 2018, however, these nations expressed a desire to revive it.

Iran has maintained that all calls for snapback sanctions are illegal. It has asserted that its decision to gradually withdraw from its commitments under the JCPOA were based on the provisions of the agreement itself and a response to the US and E3 failing to keep their own commitments under the deal first.  

Reiterating the Iranian position, spokesperson for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Behrouz Kamalvandi said on Sunday that if others “return to their commitments [to JCPOA], we will do the same.” 

Iran has warned E3 of counter measures to the imposition of snapback sanctions. On Sunday, Iran also warned the IAEA of counter measures if the said resolution was adopted, claiming such resolutions are “politically motivated” and a result of US dominance over the agency.

Original article by Abdul Rahman republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Neo-Fascist Climate Science Denier Donald Trump says Burn, Baby, Burn.
Neo-Fascist Climate Science Denier Donald Trump says Burn, Baby, Burn.
Continue ReadingIran condemns fresh US sanctions

Morning Star Editorial: On pensions, Reform’s mask has slipped

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/pensions-reforms-mask-has-slipped

 Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice at the count for the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election at the South Lanarkshire Council headquarters in Hamilton, June 5, 2025

MULTIMILLIONAIRE Reform UK MP Richard Tice’s attack on public-sector pensions exposes the party’s anti-working class character.

The claim that “gold-plated” pensions for public servants such as health and education workers are an impossible burden on the taxpayer is classic divide-and-rule propaganda.

Tice wants an end to defined benefit pension schemes, which provide a predictable income in retirement. But the scandal is not that these schemes still exist in the public sector but that they have been steadily withdrawn across the private sector.

Pensions are deferred wages and attacks on retirement income form part of the decades-long assault on working-class living standards, with wages accounting for a shrinking share of GDP since the 1970s while the share taken in profits and rents has risen.

Britain is not broke: rather we are living through what the Sunday Times Rich List has called a “golden age of the super rich.” British billionaires increased their wealth by £35 million every single day last year; banks and energy companies post record-breaking profits year on year.

…

Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/pensions-reforms-mask-has-slipped

Nigel Farage explains the politics of Reform UK: Racism, Fake anti-establishmentism, Deregulation, Corporatism, Climate Change Denial, Mysogyny and Transphobia.
Nigel Farage explains the politics of Reform UK: Racism, Fake anti-establishmentism, Deregulation, Corporatism, Climate Change Denial, Mysogyny and Transphobia.
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Continue ReadingMorning Star Editorial: On pensions, Reform’s mask has slipped

Public ownership of England’s water companies could cost close to zero, says thinktank

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jun/09/water-companies-public-ownership-could-cost-close-to-zero-says-common-wealth-thinktank

Thames Water’s £20bn debt reduces its value, argues thinktank, Common Wealth. Photograph: Maureen McLean/REX/Shutterstock

[Guardian] Exclusive: Common Wealth report argues debt, pollution and underinvestment justify process known as special administration

Ministers could bring water companies into public ownership for minimal cost through a process designed to safeguard vital public services when the companies running them are failing, a thinktank report has argued.

According to the report by Common Wealth, ministers could use a process known as special administration to take over a company like Thames Water and, rather than transfer it to another private company, keep it under permanent public ownership.

Writing for the thinktank, Ewan McGaughey, professor of law at King’s College London, said that while a figure of £99bn was commonly cited as the cost of taking over the industry in England, this was based on an estimate from a thinktank paid for by water companies.

…

The actual market value of water companies, the report argued, seems to be lower, with the US private equity company KKR offering a £4bn injection of equity to take over Thames Water, when its supposed regulatory capital value is nearer £20bn.

A Thames Water van parked in London

It goes on to say that when debt levels of water companies are taken into account, for example Thames Water is about £20bn in debt, it would be possible for the government to argue that their appropriate value in law was notably less, even close to zero.

…

Original article at https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jun/09/water-companies-public-ownership-could-cost-close-to-zero-says-common-wealth-thinktank

Continue ReadingPublic ownership of England’s water companies could cost close to zero, says thinktank

Thousands harmed and 87 dead after NHS equipment failures in England

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jun/09/thousands-harmed-and-87-dead-after-nhs-equipment-failures-in-england

Labour has pledged to double the number of scanners in English hospitals over the course of the parliament. Photograph: wilpunt/Getty Images

‘Shocking statistics’ prompt calls for government funding to replace broken and obsolete medical devices

Almost 100 people have died and 4,000 have been harmed after equipment malfunctions in the NHS in the past three years, prompting calls for more government funding to upgrade broken and obsolete medical devices.

A defibrillator advising paramedics not to administer a shock, an emergency alarm system on a neonatal ward failing, and the camera on an intubation device going dark were just three failures after which patients died.

They are included in figures released for the first time by NHS England that show patients were harmed after 3,915 equipment malfunction incidents – with 87 being followed by a death – since 2022.

Paul Whiteing, the chief executive of Action against Medical Accidents, said: “These are shocking statistics. Behind these numbers are real people who are needlessly harmed, the impact of which will be life-changing and traumatic.

“The scale of the harm and loss of life that has resulted from basic equipment failures and malfunctions shows in stark relief the scale of the tragedy that has resulted from years of underfunding in the NHS.”

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Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: “Modern, up-to-date equipment such as scanners, defibrillators and patient monitors are absolutely essential for hospitals to run safely and more productively. But due to more than a decade of being starved of capital investment, NHS staff have been left with no option but to extend the life of obsolete equipment, which, as this research shows, is putting patients at unnecessary risk and leading to tragic avoidable harm.

“While the additional investment the government has pledged has been a welcome start, without sufficient capital funding it will be hard for the NHS to maintain the standards patients rightly expect and to deliver the government’s ‘plan for change’ promise to cut waiting times.”

…

Original article is at https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jun/09/thousands-harmed-and-87-dead-after-nhs-equipment-failures-in-england

Continue ReadingThousands harmed and 87 dead after NHS equipment failures in England