UN General Assembly may see ‘the last attempt’ at implementing the two-state solution, says Dr Husam Zomlot
News release
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2 September 2025
Speaking at Chatham House, Dr Zomlot asked the UK and other countries to view recognition of a Palestinian state as a first step.
Dr Husam Zomlot, Head of the Palestinian Mission to the United Kingdom, visited Chatham House on Tuesday 2 September to discuss the ongoing war in Gaza and prospects for a Palestinian state.
His visit to Chatham House comes at a crucial time, with Israel pushing tanks and troops into Gaza City in the latest phase of its nearly two-year military assault on the Palestinian coastal strip, and humanitarian organizations reporting famine among the population.
Palestinian officials in Gaza say Israel’s offensive has killed more than 63,000 people. Israel says its goal is to destroy Hamas, and to free the remaining hostages captured by Hamas in its 2023 cross-border attack.
In response to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Prime Minister Keir Starmer in July said the UK would recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York in September – unless Israel met certain conditions – in order to advance a two-state solution as the best means of resolving the conflict.
Dr Zomlot discusses recognition of Palestinian statehood at Chatham House.
On Tuesday, Belgium became the latest country to say it will also move towards recognizing a Palestinian state at the UN, joining several other nations, including G7 members France, the UK and Canada. Their moves have been strongly opposed by Israel and the US.
‘What you will see in New York might be the actual last attempt at implementing the two-state solution,’ Dr Zomlot told Chatham House Director Bronwen Maddox during an interview.
‘We, and with us the region, and the rest of the international community are in desperate and real search for an alternative path,’ he said.
‘Recognition is a first step,’ he added. ‘It’s not a final step. It’s just a first, meaningful, significant, step in an international momentum to implement the two-state solution rather than negotiate it.’
Addressing the UK’s history in the region, and the 1917 Balfour Declaration, Dr Zomlot said UK recognition would matter ‘because of the colonial era, because of promising our land without consulting us…Look at the recognition as the correction of this historic injustice.’
He added: ‘Each country has a responsibility. Enough of 30 years of saying “only the US, and therefore I sit on my hands and I do nothing”. No, you do, and every country is either part of the solution, or complicit in the genocide and the atrocities.’
Discussing the future governance of Gaza and the holding of elections, Dr Zomlot conceded that Hamas ‘will not just disappear’. But he said that talks with all ‘partners’ involved had produced agreement that there would be a ‘technocratic’ administration that would not involve Hamas or any other political parties. And that when future elections are held, he said Palestinians should be left to choose their own government, not have one imposed on them.
‘I assure you we will never accept, nor the Palestinian people, anything less (than) what the Palestinian people demand, which is democracy, and the people have the source of legitimacy, no other.’
Dr Zomlot previously served as Strategic Affairs Advisor to the Palestinian president.
Chatham House provides a trusted and independent forum for a diversity of viewpoints, convening meetings of people and organisations that can bring about change at a time of immense upheaval in world affairs.