The Palestinian petitioners seek to build on previous concessions made by the UK over colonial-era war crimes, including this year's apology for the 1948 Batang Kali massacre in Malaya and the settlement over abuses of Kenyans during the Mau Mau uprising of the 1950s.

Some 160 states have signed up to recognize a Palestinian state. In the last week, the United Kingdom, France, Canada and Australia have done so, but the prospect of it becoming a reality amid US opposition and Israeli resistance is at best a distant one.

Roughly 80% of UN members now back Palestinian statehood after several recognized it this week. We need to give the Palestinians hope for the future and also make sure that the Israelis can live in peace.

Whether President Trump can help bring the war to an end will probably depend on how much he is willing to push Benjamin Netanyahu.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said he is ready to work with world leaders to implement a peace plan for Israel and the Palestinians announced by France on Monday. Speaking via video at the UN General Assembly, Abbas reiterated his rejection of a future governing role for Hamas in Gaza and demanded it disarm.

French official Pascal Confavreux defends U.N. Palestinian statehood initiative against Trump's criticism that it rewards Hamas for Oct. 7 attacks.

France and several other Western nations formally declared their recognition of a Palestinian state at the United Nations on Monday in a move that deepens Israel’s international isolation as it pursues its maximalist war aims in Gaza and expands settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Spain’s top diplomat dismissed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement that there will never be a Palestinian state.

Trump and foreign leaders meet this week at the UN General Assembly, though Trump will largely be isolated from more than half of the member nations over the war in Gaza.

There has been a recent rush of countries to formally recognise the state of Palestine. Affirming Palestinian sovereignty marks a historic diplomatic milestone, yet the exact layout of its territory, a central requirement under international law, remains fiercely contested from every hilltop in the West Bank to the ruins of Gaza.