British Prime Minister Gordon Brown became the first British premier to address the Israeli Knesset on July 21, calling for Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and establishing Al-Quds (occupied Jerusalem) as the capital of both Palestinian and Israeli states. “Today there is one historic challenge you still have to resolve so that your 60-year journey into the future is complete: peace with your neighbours and throughout the region,” Brown told the Knesset. To deliver such a deal, “it is vital also that both sides now create the conditions for a final agreement,” Brown said.
Brown, on his first visit to Israel and the West Bank since becoming prime minister in June 2007, called on Israel to free settlement construction and withdraw from the West Bank. “It would require Israel freezing, and withdrawing from, settlements and like many of your friends, I urge you to make these decisions,” he said.
Brown said creating a Palestinian state to live beside Israel with both sharing al-Quds as their capital will be the key to peace in the Middle East. This would entail “a democratic Israel, secure from attack, recognized by and at peace with all its neighbours alongside a peaceful, democratic and territorially viable state of Palestine that accepts you as its friend and partner.” Jerusalem would be the “capital for both,” and there would be a “just and agreed settlement for refugees,” he added.