by Limhor Simhony Philpott, spiked
The days of Britain redrawing the maps of the Middle East should be consigned to the history books.
Keir Starmer’s decision to recognise a Palestinian state is being dressed up as a bold moral gesture. His supporters frame it as a step towards peace and justice in the Middle East – all very noble-sounding. But scratch the surface, and the move looks less like moral leadership and more like the latest instalment in Britain’s long, disastrous habit of meddling in the region.
The idea that statehood can be bestowed by Western fiat is pure imperial fantasy. We’ve been here before. From the Sykes-Picot Agreement in 1916, when Britain and France carved up the Ottoman lands like slices of cake, to the Balfour Declaration a year later, Britain has always presumed it could redraw borders and manufacture states with a stroke of a pen.
The results were disastrous. Britain and France artificially created Lebanon, Iraq and Syria, installing pliant kings and ignoring ethnic and religious realities. They split the Kurds across four different states, dooming them to a century of statelessness and persecution. During the Palestine Mandate (1920-1948), Britain swung between contradictory promises, first to the Jews, then to the Arabs, stoking resentment on both sides. In Lebanon, French colonial meddling hardened sectarian divides that still fuel political paralysis and violence today. In short, the imperial powers mistook maps for reality on the ground, and in doing so sowed the seeds of endless conflict.