Around 40 legal experts and lawyers have sent a letter to UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, arguing that recognizing a Palestinian state would violate international law and urging him to reverse course, according to The Times of London.
In the letter, the signatories cite the Montevideo Convention—signed by the UK—which outlines four criteria for statehood: a defined territory, a permanent population, a functioning government, and the capacity to engage in foreign relations.
The authors, which include former high-ranking judges and distinguished legal professionals, argue that the proposed Palestinian state's borders remain undefined. Therefore, they claim, the UK's "paramount commitment to international law"—as previously stated by Starmer—would be contradicted by such a move.
They also assert that recognizing a Palestinian state would end the classification of individuals living there as "refugees" under British law.