Painting by Augustus JohnSo the UK government now recognizes the existence of a Palestinian state. The Sykes-Picot deal carved up this very same region into their respective spheres of imperial influence, the French to get Syria, the British Palestine, and what became Iraq. As of now, it seems that UK and Co are merely making a gesture which is no more meaningful than McMahon’s promise to Hussein in 1915. Yet unless they do something substantial to reverse Israeli expansion, they will be complicit either of two crimes against humanity. Egypt, with 115 million, could absorb the Gazans if sufficiently bribed but the Palestinian resistance would be fierce.