UK updates official maps to show 'Palestine' following recognition
Britain has redrawn its maps of the Middle East to label the "State of Palestine" for the first time after Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced London's formal recognition of Palestinian statehood on September 21.
The update appeared across the Foreign Office's website, including travel advisories, embassy listings and regional maps. "In the face of growing horrors in the Middle East, we are acting to preserve the chance of peace and a two-state solution," Starmer said.
The UK joined Canada and Australia in recognising Palestine, whilst Spain, Ireland and Norway had already done so earlier in 2025. Diplomats expect more EU members to follow, though Washington remains opposed, insisting statehood must come through direct talks with Israel.
The move comes ahead of a Saudi-French-led conference at the UN General Assembly, where France and other countries are expected to announce similar recognition. Belgium is also preparing to follow suit, with Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot warning of possible sanctions against Israel.
The map changes represent a tangible manifestation of Britain's policy shift, moving beyond diplomatic statements to practical implementation across government platforms.
According to the latest version of the website, the Israeli page has also had its map changed to reflect the UK government's recognition of the State of Palestine.
For Gaza, the FCDO advises against all travel to the territory and within 500 metres of the Gaza border. The advisory reflects ongoing security concerns and active conflict in the region.
On the West Bank, the FCDO advises against all travel to Tulkarm Governorate, Jenin Governorate, and Tubas Governorate except Route 90.
For the remainder of the West Bank, the advisory recommends against all but essential travel, with specific exceptions for East Jerusalem, Bethlehem Governorate, Ramallah Municipality, Jericho municipality and areas south of it including the Allenby crossing.
The advisory also exempts Highway 1 linking Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and areas south and west of the highway including Highway 3, plus Route 443 and Highway 45 which connect Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
For Northern Israel and the Occupied Golan Heights, the FCDO advises against all travel within 500 metres of the Area of Separation in the occupied Golan Heights known as the 'Alpha line'. Travellers are warned not to attempt entering the occupied Golan Heights through Syria.
The advisory specifically warns against all travel to the Sheba'a Farms and Ghajja areas, and against all but essential travel within 500 metres of the Lebanese border.
The timing coincides with the UN General Assembly meetings in New York, where Palestinian statehood recognition has become a key diplomatic issue. The coordinated approach by multiple Western nations suggests a broader shift in international sentiment regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
What exactly is the state of Palestine?
Issued on: 22/09/2025 -
The state of #Palestine was declared on November 15, 1988, by Yasser Arafat, then leader of the Palestine Liberation Organisation. 🌍 Today it is recognised by more than 140 of the 193 🇺🇳 UN member states, with 🇫🇷 France, 🇧🇪 Belgium, 🇨🇦 Canada and 🇦🇺 Australia to recognise it at the @UN General Assembly in September. But what, exactly, is the state of Palestine?
Replay: France's Macron officially recognises state of Palestine at UN summit
Issued on: 22/09/2025 -
French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday recognised a Palestinian state at a UN summit aimed at galvanising support for a two-state solution to the Mideast conflict a day ahead of the 2025 UN General Assembly in New York.
Video by: FRANCE 24
France joins UK, Portugal and Canada in recognising Palestinian state
France on Monday joined the UK, Portugal, Canada and Australia in formally recognising a Palestinian state, French President Emmanuel Macron announced whilst addressing the United Nations in New York.
“True to the historic commitment of my country to the Middle East, to peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians, this is why I declare that today, France recognises the state of Palestine,” Macron said to loud applause from leaders in attendance.
Before making the announcement, Macron told the UN the world was a few moments away from no longer being able to seize peace.
"We can no longer wait," the French leader said, as he condemned the 7 October attacks and called for a two-state solution.
"Nothing justifies the ongoing war", he said, adding that "everything compels us" to bring it to a definitive end.
France recognized the Palestinian state after the UK, Portugal, Canada and Australia did so on Sunday.
Around three-fourths of the 193-member United Nations recognise Palestine, but the majority of major Western nations had until recently declined to do so.
The creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem — territories seized by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war — is widely seen internationally as the only way to resolve the conflict, which began more than a century before Hamas' 7 October attack ignited the war in Gaza nearly two years ago.
Palestinians have welcomed the moves toward recognition, hoping they might someday lead to independence.
'Will not happen'
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has yet to comment on Macron's declaration but said in a video posted before Portugal made the move that a Palestinian state "will not happen.
"A Palestinian state will not be established west of the Jordan River," he said adding that Israel has doubled Jewish settlements in the West Bank and "will continue on this path."
Netanyahu said he would respond to the "latest attempt to impose a terrorist state" on Israel following the conclusion of Monday's UN General Assembly meeting.
Israel has opposed Palestinian statehood before the war, and now argued that recognising Palestine would reward Hamas.
The Israeli leader is under pressure from parts of his coalition government to move ahead with annexing parts of the West Bank, which would complicate Palestinian efforts.
Israel says that the internationally recognised Palestinian Authority, led by rivals of Hamas, is not fully committed to peace. It has accused it of incitement to militancy. Many Palestinians view its leadership as increasingly autocratic.
Hamas, which won the last Palestinian national elections in 2006, has at times hinted it might accept a state on the 1967 lines but remains formally committed to a Palestinian state in all of the territory between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, including Israel.
Netanyahu said he would decide on Israel's response to the Palestinian statehood push after meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House next week, their fourth meeting since Trump returned to office.
The Trump administration is also opposed to growing recognition of a Palestinian state and blames it for the derailment of ceasefire talks with Hamas.
Palestinian and Israeli flags projected onto the Eiffel Tower
Issued on: 22/09/2025
The unannounced projection of the Palestinian and Israeli flags and a dove symbolising peace onto the Eiffel Tower in Paris began at 9pm and ran until 11:45pm local time.Video by: Stella ELGERSMA
French town halls raise the Palestinian flag
in defiance of interior ministry order
Left-wing politicians unfurled a Palestinian flag on the Paris City Hall facade for around 30 minutes on Monday, defying Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and a French interior ministry advisory against such displays. More than 86 French towns and cities raised Palestinian flags ahead of President Emmanuel Macron’s expected recognition of the state of Palestine at the UN.
Issued on: 22/09/2025
Just hours before President Emmanuel Macron was set to announce France’s recognition of a Palestinian state at the UN, pro-Palestinian activists and left-wing politicians on Monday unfurled a large Palestinian flag from a Paris City Hall window.
The move was not endorsed by Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and the flag was taken down after about 30 minutes.
While Macron has spearheaded a recent move, among many Western countries – including the UK, Australia and Canada – to recognise a Palestinian state, France's hardline Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau issued a circular last week ordering prefects – the top local state-appointed officials – to oppose the flying of the flags.
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"The principle of neutrality in public service prohibits such displays," the interior ministry said, adding that any decisions by mayors to fly the Palestinian flag should be referred to courts.
At least 86 town and city halls run by leftist parties, including Lyon, Nantes, Rennes and Saint-Denis, flew Palestinian flags on their facades, according to the interior ministry.
The standoff has underlined the social and political tension in France in the wake of the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas and the relentless bombardment and aid blockades by Israel on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip that followed.
Read moreMideast conflict: 'Dialogue of the deaf' doomed two-state solution, but are history's lessons heard?
France is home to western Europe's largest Jewish population, at around half a million people, as well as a significant Muslim community sensitive to the plight of the Palestinian people in Gaza.
The Socialist Party (PS) mayors of Nantes and Rennes, big cities in western and northwestern France, were among the first to fly Palestinian flags outside their city halls to mark the occasion.
"Our responsibility is to reject silence and to do everything in our power, here and now, to put an end to the horror," Rennes Mayor Nathalie Appéré said in a statement.
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'Historic day for peace'
The northern Paris suburb of Saint-Denis also raised the Palestinian flag at a ceremony attended by Socialist Party leader Faure, who opposed Retailleau's order and said he had written to Macron asking the president to rescind it.
"This flag is not the flag of Hamas, it is the flag of women and men who also have the right to freedom and self-determination," he said.
Foreign Minster Jean-Noël Barrot appeared wary of being drawn into the debate on what he described a "historic day for peace".
"I do not want ... it to be used for political polemics, to divide us at a time when, more than ever, we need to be united to be strong," he told TF1 television.
The flags of both Israel and Palestine, as well as peace images of a dove and olive branch, were displayed late Sunday at the Eiffel Tower, which was illuminated in celebration of the recognition of the Palestinian state.
"Paris reaffirms its commitment to peace, which more than ever requires a two-state solution," Socialist Mayor Anne Hidalgo wrote on Bluesky.
But hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) figurehead Jean-Luc Mélenchon fulminated over the projection of the Israeli flag on the emblematic Paris landmark, saying that the "PS is betraying everyone at once".
Acknowledging the impassioned responses caused by his decision, which have included anger from within France's Jewish community, Macron posted a video on X on Sunday saying France wanted "peace, an immediate ceasefire and the release, without delay" of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
Of the 251 people seized by Palestinian militants during their attack on Israel in October 2023, 47 remain in Gaza, including 25 the Israeli military says are dead.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
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