Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas is reportedly demanding that the United Kingdom pay it reparations, which could be worth up to trillions of dollars, after U.K. prime minister Keir Starmer on Sunday formally recognized a Palestinian state.
"Abbas, who has a long history of threatening to sue Britain, is demanding 'reparations in accordance with international law' based on the value of the land which was under British rule between 1917 and 1948," the Daily Mail reported, noting that the payments would be "compensation for land 'taken from the Palestinian people' when Britain relinquished control of the region after the Second World War."
Under Abbas, the Palestinian Authority has paid millions of dollars to the families of killed or imprisoned terrorists under its "pay for slay" program. While Abbas claimed in February that he would end the program, he told his party later that month that "even if we have [only] one penny left, it is for the prisoners and Martyrs," according to the Council on Foreign Relations. There is no evidence to suggest the authority ceased its payments to terrorists' families following Abbas's order.
The Daily Mail's report says that "some international law experts" have said that reparations worth two trillion British pounds, "roughly the size of Britain's total economy," are "a good place to start."
The United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia on Sunday recognized Palestinian statehood ahead of this month's U.N. General Assembly in Manhattan, with France set to join them, the New York Post reported. Starmer warned in July that the United Kingdom would move forward with recognition unless Israel took "substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza" and committed to a two-state solution.
A senior Hamas official last month hailed British, Canadian, and French plans to recognize a Palestinian state as "the fruits of October 7," crediting Hamas's terrorist attack on Israel with growing Western support for such a state. During the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack, Hamas killed more than 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped 251 people, including Americans.
The countries' actions drew a sharp rebuke from Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "I have a clear message to those leaders who are recognizing a Palestinian state after the horrendous October 7 massacre," Netanyahu said in a televised statement: "You are rewarding terror with an enormous prize." The prime minister vowed that "there will be no Palestinian state to the west of the Jordan River."
The Trump administration has reaffirmed U.S. opposition to Palestinian statehood, with an official telling the New York Post that the president "would be rewarding Hamas and would be hindering efforts to bring home the hostages" if he recognized a Palestinian state.
"He doesn't think [Hamas] should be rewarded," the official went on. "So he is not going to do that."
