In a stark intervention, the UK's Foreign Secretary has warned that the actions of Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu risk plunging the Middle East into a permanent state of crisis. Speaking at a press conference in London, Jeremy Bowen, the BBC's veteran Middle East editor, offered a grim assessment of the current trajectory, echoing the government's call for immediate de-escalation.
Bowen, known for his measured yet unflinching analysis of regional politics, did not mince words. He argued that the recent decisions by the US and Israeli leadership, from the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital to the expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank, have created a volatile cocktail that could spark a wider conflagration. "We are sleepwalking into a permacrisis," he said. "This is not about a single incident but a pattern of disregard for international law and the rights of Palestinians that is eroding any last hope for a two-state solution."
For those of us who follow the minutiae of the kitchen table economy, this is not an abstract geopolitical puzzle. A permanent crisis in the Middle East means higher oil prices, disrupted supply chains, and more of the cost-of-living squeeze that families in Manchester, Glasgow, and Cardiff are already feeling. When the region burns, the price of bread and petrol rises in Britain. That is the real economy Bowen is talking about.
The UK government, through its Foreign Office, has urged both sides to step back from the brink. A statement called for an end to unilateral actions and a return to negotiated agreements. But the words ring hollow when the US has effectively greenlit annexation and Israel continues to build on land that is supposed to form a future Palestinian state.
Bowen pointed out that the Palestinian Authority is losing credibility while Hamas gains ground. "Desperation feeds extremism," he warned. "If you take away hope, you leave only resistance. And resistance in the Middle East often comes with a rocket launcher."
For the union movement and working people, this crisis must also be understood as a distraction from the domestic challenges we face. Every pound spent on bombs and walls is a pound not spent on schools and hospitals. The UK's own arms sales to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states have come under renewed scrutiny, with campaigners demanding an end to the trade that fuels conflict.
There is a growing sense that the cost of this permacrisis is being paid by the least fortunate. In the last decade, while real wages have stagnated in Britain, the defence industry has boomed. The profits of war flow upward; the pain flows downward.
Bowen's warning should be a wake-up call. But history suggests it will be ignored until the next missile strikes or the next spike in inflation. As he concluded: "The world is watching. And the world is tired."
