View from Canada: Britain faces Palestinian reparations demand that could cost £ 2 trillion

The British in Palestine – early 1920s.
After World War I, the Ottoman Empire's territory was partitioned by the European victors in a process initiated by the Sykes-Picot Agreement, which divided the territories of Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, and Palestine into spheres of British or French control, thereby ensuring colonial rule through the establishment of artificial borders.
Photo: arabcenterdc.org

Britain’s recognition of a Palestinian state was quickly followed by a demand for money. Within days, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called on the United Kingdom to pay reparations for its administration of the region under the British Mandate between 1917 and 1948. Estimates of the claim reach as high as £ 2 trillion. Hamas called the recognition a victory, writes Canadian ‘Winnipeg Sun’.

The demand has already divided British politics. Shadow Home Secretary Robert Jenrick dismissed it as “ahistorical nonsense” and pledged that no taxpayer funds would be used. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said the recognition was a mistake. On the Labour side, a few MPs have echoed past sympathies for reparations arguments, but the government insists recognition was symbolic and does not trigger payments. Legal experts agree the chances of success are slim. Britain could rely on sovereign immunity, the sheer passage of time, and the lack of direct causation to block any claim. But the demand still matters, because symbolic recognition has now been converted into political leverage.

This is how symbolic gestures turn into costly disputes. No money is changing hands today, but the debate has started, and once it begins, it rarely disappears. Reparations for slavery and colonialism have become permanent points of contention in other countries. Now Britain has opened the door to the same arguments in the Middle East.

And it does not stop at Britain. Other European states that have recognized Palestine could be next in line for demands. The Palestinian Authority has signalled its strategy: to secure symbolic recognition and leverage it into financial and political claims. Hamas will continue to frame each step as a victory, strengthening its hand while violence and hostage-taking continue.

The problem is not that reparations could succeed in court; the problem is that recognition creates the expectation that demands are legitimate. Once that expectation takes hold, it reshapes debates, fuels grievances, and burdens allies who are already stretched thin.

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