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The new statesman.

This weekend, Kirstama announced that the UK has formally recognised Palestine as an independent state.

The Prime Minister said, in the face of the growing horror in the Middle East, we are acting to keep alive the possibility of peace and a two-state solution.

Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, called the decision absurd and a reward for terrorism.

So what impact would it actually have?

I'm Hannah Barnes, and this is the New Statesman podcast.

I am joined by our political correspondent, Megan, Kenyon.

Hi, Megan. So the UK isn't alone here. Over the last few days, we've got Australia, Canada, Portugal and France,

all coming at the same time to announce their formal recognition of the state of Palestine.

US, rather obviously, predictably,

agrees with Israel that recognition at this point in time is a diplomatic gift for Hamas.

So why is it happening now? Talk us through the timing.

So, yes, it's the UN General Assembly this week and a fair few countries, as you've just listed there,

have decided to recognise Palestine at this conference. I think this is a sort of quite a crucial moment in the conflict. I think there's a sense that sort of countries are running out of options

and, you know, it's the scale of Israel's actions in

...