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Johnson's praise of Trump's Middle East deal is a ‘shameful betrayal’ of the two-state solution, Labour says

LABOUR accused Prime Minister Boris Johnson today of a “shameful betrayal” of Britain’s commitment to a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict after he praised Donald Trump’s globally condemned “peace” plan. 

The US president’s plan grants Israel many of its long-held demands, including the annexation of settlements across the occupied West Bank, recognition of Jerusalem as its “undivided” capital and the expulsion of the country’s Palestinian residents. 

In an urgent question in the Commons today, shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry said the proposal “destroys any prospect of an independent, contiguous Palestinian state.”

She added: “Why on earth are our Prime Minister and our Foreign Secretary just going along with this sham of a peace deal by actively welcoming it?” 

Yesterday, Mr Johnson said the plan has “the merits of a two-state solution,” despite it including further land grabs and the continuation of Israeli control over Palestinian territories. 

Responding to Ms Thornberry, junior foreign-office minister Andrew Murrison said the proposals deserved “genuine and fair consideration,” but insisted that Britain’s position remains unchanged. 

He then accused her of failing to understand the 181-page document unveiled by Mr Trump at a White House launch on Tuesday.

But Ms Thornberry hit back, insisting: “This is not a peace plan, it is a monstrosity and a guarantee that the next generation of Palestinian and Israeli children, like so many generations before them, will grow up knowing nothing but fear, violence and division.”

She added that the plan had been devised by Mr Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “not in the interest of peace but simply to further their chances of re-election by doing the opposite.”

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