More than a dozen Democratic members of Congress have signed on to a letter that urges the Trump administration to recognise Palestinian statehood, in a draft copy shared with the Guardian.
Congressman Ro Khanna of California is leading the letter addressed to the president and secretary of state Marco Rubio, and is joined by several House progressives, including Greg Casar of Texas, Pramila Jayapal of Washington, and Maxwell Frost of Florida.
“This tragic moment has highlighted for the world the long overdue need to recognize Palestinian self-determination,” the letter reads. “Just as the lives of Palestinians must be immediately protected, so too must their rights as a people and nation urgently be acknowledged and upheld.”
The letter comes as human rights experts sound the alarm over the unfolding famine in Gaza, and as some of Israel’s key western allies, including France and Canada, have recently pledged to recognise a Palestinian state at the UN general assembly.
The UK also made a similar pledge if Israel could not agree to a ceasefire by September.
The Democrats’ letter adds that a viable Palestinian state “will need to fully recognize Israel and adopt a framework to guarantee Israel’s security, including the disarmament of and relinquishing of power by Hamas in order to be broadly embraced by the community of nations”. A similar framework was proposed by French president Emmanuel Macron last month.
Khanna’s office said the letter would be sent out after 16 September, which coincides with the UN general assembly that runs from 8-23 September this year.
“This is the moment for the United States to officially recognise a Palestinian state,” Khanna told the Guardian. He added that he only began outreach “this past week” but characterised the response as “overwhelming”.
The Trump administration, however, has made it clear that it does not agree with the growing list of countries agreeing to recognise a Palestinian state. In a White House briefing last week, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the president views statehood as ultimately “rewarding Hamas”.
The administration’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff travelled to Gaza last week to assess aid conditions on the ground, and Trump told reporters on Sunday that the US is “putting up money to get the people fed”.
But in recent weeks, there have been several cracks in the unconditional support for Israel in Congress, including from Republicans. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, a Maga stalwart, characterised the humanitarian crisis in Gaza as a “genocide” in a post on X last week, breaking from the GOP’s fervent backing of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s military campaign.
While a vote to bar US arms sales to Israel ultimately fell short last week, a record number of Democratic senators voted in favour of the two resolutions to stop the sale of offensive weapons to Israel.
