UK includes State of Palestine on its maps for the first time

The British government has updated its website maps, which previously referred to the "Occupied Palestinian Territories," to instead list Palestine.

This followed Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s announcement of the official recognition of the Palestinian state, a move that coincided with similar recognitions by Canada and Australia.

British media reported that some Foreign Office websites had replaced references to the "Occupied Palestinian Territories" with "Palestine." The changes appear on pages providing travel advice for Israel and Palestine, in the list of Foreign Office missions abroad, and on the region’s official maps.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Starmer announced that Britain had officially recognized the State of Palestine. “In the face of mounting horror in the Middle East, we are working to preserve the possibility of peace and a two-state solution,” he said at a press conference. He added, “Hamas can have no future, no role in government, and no role in security in any Palestinian state.”

Britain is now the third G7 country to recognize a Palestinian state, after Canada and Australia. The move comes a day before a conference on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meetings, co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and France, where several countries—led by France—are expected to announce their recognition of Palestine.