Jubilant Palestinians raise flag outside London embassy after UK recognition

Jubilant Palestinians held a flag-raising ceremony on Monday outside what is now their country's embassy to the United Kingdom, a day after Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced his long-awaited recognition of a Palestinian state.

Attended by hundreds of officials, including Foreign Office minister Hamish Falconer, Scotland's First Minister John Swinney, and several Labour and independent MPs, the presumptive Palestinian ambassador to the UK, Husam Zomlot, said the UK's recognition was about "righting historic wrongs".

"In the same capital of the Balfour Declaration, after more than a century of ongoing denial, dispossession and erasure, the UK government has finally taken the long overdue step of recognising the state of Palestine," Zomlot said.

Holding up a plaque, to cheers from the crowd, he said: "Very soon, pending some legal work, some bureaucratic work… this plaque, which reads 'The Embassy of the State of Palestine'... will be placed right behind me on this building."

He said the moment was "not only about Palestine, it is also about Britain and the British government's solemn responsibility.

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