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Hello and welcome to NewsAv from the BBC World Service. We're coming to you live from London.

I'm James Menendez. And we're going to begin today with the announcement by the UK,

expected shortly that it'll recognise a Palestinian

state. The Prime Minister Kirstama promised to do so several weeks ago if Israel didn't take

steps to ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Well, Downey Street now says things in Gaza have got

much worse. The British government and other allies of Israel, including France, Canada and Australia,

are also worried about the Israeli government's plans to further expand Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank,

making a Palestinian state even less likely.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly condemned plans to recognize Palestinian state

at saying that they reward Hamas' monstrous terrorism.

Well, that view was rejected by Britain's Deputy Prime Minister David Lamy, speaking to the BBC a little earlier.

Let's make a distinction between Hamas and the Palestinian people.

What do we say to the children of a future Palestinian state? Do we say we have to wait for

the perfect conditions before we can recognise a Palestinian state? Or do we say when we see the

E1 development, the expansion plans in the West Bank, when we see the decision not to move towards a ceasefire, but instead to

attack Qatar and set back that ceasefire, do we say to them, no, you cannot have that Palestinian

state that is your dream? And I think that's the assessment, not just the UK, but France, Australia,

Canada, Belgium are making at this time.

Let's talk to our UK political correspondent Rob Watson, who's on the line. Hello, Rob. But what can you tell us about the considerations behind the timing of this announcement? Well, the government

says the considerations behind the timing were the conditions on the ground,

the fact that they consider secondly that it's just the moral thing to do.

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