Several Western countries, including Britain, France, Belgium, Australia, and Canada, are about to join the 147 UN members that recognize the so-far nonexistent state of Palestine. They will follow Ireland, Norway, Spain, Slovenia, Armenia, the Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and Barbados, which all formally recognized Palestine in 2024.
To some Israeli and U.S. critics, recognition appears to be a reward that ignores the terrorism carried out by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023 when militants killed more than 1200 Israelis and abducted 251, many of whom have died in Hamas captivity. To others, however, the step is seen as a largely symbolic gesture meant to ease perceived Western guilt about the current situation in Gaza, where Israeli retaliation for the Hamas attacks has claimed the lives of at least 64,000 Palestinians, including hundreds from starvation, and destroyed 75 percent of the buildings in an enclave that is still home to two million people.
Given Israeli control over all of historic Palestine since Israel captured the West Bank and Gaza in the 1967 war, more recognition now will only be meaningful if accompanied by other steps that put pressure on Israel to end the war in Gaza and on Hamas to release remaining hostages. So far, however, those steps have not been sufficient. And Israel’s September 9 strike on Qatar in a failed attempt to kill Hamas leaders has only set back chances for peace.
The UN General Assembly in 2012 by a vote of 138 to 9 approved Palestinian membership as a non-voting observer in return for Palestinian recognition of Israel’s right to the land beyond the West Bank and Gaza. Palestinians have used this status to gain access to other international institutions and to bring war crimes charges successfully against Israel in the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Court of Justice. But few countries have enforced rulings against Israeli leaders; the Trump administration, which is not a member of the ICC, has repeatedly welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington and sanctioned the justices who issued warrants for Netanyahu’s arrest.
In response to the latest announcements by Britain and France, the U.S. State Department in early September refused visas to Palestinian leaders hoping to attend the annual UN General Assembly and designated three Palestinian human rights organizations as terrorist groups for their work with the ICC.
Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said Israel should respond to the growing nominal recognition of Palestine by annexing most of the West Bank, where three million Palestinians are already subject to severe restrictions and frequent attacks by Israeli settlers. That statement triggered a rare protest from the United Arab Emirates, a state that in 2020 recognized Israel under the Abraham Accords, which were brokered by the first Trump administration.
Those who have followed the issue for decades know that the much touted two-state formula is a chimera: There will be no independent Palestinian state in the foreseeable future. Many supporters of such a state have moved on to advocate for Palestinian rights within one state or a confederation comprising Israel, the West Bank, and possibly Jordan. The immediate goal, however, should be to end the Gaza conflict and the suffering of Palestinian civilians and Israeli relatives of the hostages.
Ahmed Moor, a Palestinian American and fellow at the Foundation for Middle East Peace, a Washington-based NGO, said in an interview that “it’s too cynical to say [that recognition of Palestine] is just performative” if it drives momentum to pressure Israel to stop the war. Moor fears that Israel will succeed in ethnically cleansing Gaza and expelling many Palestinians from the West Bank to Jordan but takes some solace in growing opposition to Israeli policies not only in Europe but in both the Democratic and Republican parties in the United States.
In Israel, too, calls to end the war have been getting louder as some among the country’s small population fear for the lives of remaining hostages and tire of constant military call-ups to fight in Gaza. Some Israelis and their U.S. supporters worry that Israel is becoming a pariah state and that major investors will begin to shun the country unless there is peace.
Chuck Freilich, a former Israeli deputy national security adviser, said in response to a query that recognition of Palestine is “a reward for Hamas terrorism, for October 7th, and support for the Palestinians at a time when Israel is under growing international opprobrium, making it that much more painful.”
Freilich argued that the step “is more about French, British, [and] Canadian domestic politics than promoting peace in the Middle East…an empty gesture that will change absolutely nothing in reality… and since it is a reward for Hamas, is counterproductive at this time. The Palestinians must understand that a Palestinian state can only be the outcome of a negotiated process, not violence.”
But with an Israeli government that has made its opposition to any form of Palestinian statehood clear and that is continuing a war that appears to be increasing Hamas recruitment and incentivizing more terrorism rather than destroying the militant group, recognizing those aspirations seems like a no-cost way to keep up momentum for change.
Israelis will never forget Oct. 7 — any more than most Jews will forget the Nazi Holocaust that pushed the international community to recognize the state of Israel after World War II.
Palestinians, on the other hand, see Israel’s birth as the “nakba” or catastrophe that led to the expulsion of some 700,000 Palestinians, many of whose descendants are suffering in Gaza today.
These terrible ordeals have forged determined nationalism in both peoples. Even if there is no Palestine now, it is unrealistic to expect that Palestinian aspirations for equality and justice in their own state or one state will disappear any more than Israeli attachment to theirs.
Recognizing Palestine: Symbolic Gesture or Real Pressure?
By Barbara Slavin
Middle East & North Africa
Several Western countries, including Britain, France, Belgium, Australia, and Canada, are about to join the 147 UN members that recognize the so-far nonexistent state of Palestine. They will follow Ireland, Norway, Spain, Slovenia, Armenia, the Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and Barbados, which all formally recognized Palestine in 2024.
To some Israeli and U.S. critics, recognition appears to be a reward that ignores the terrorism carried out by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023 when militants killed more than 1200 Israelis and abducted 251, many of whom have died in Hamas captivity. To others, however, the step is seen as a largely symbolic gesture meant to ease perceived Western guilt about the current situation in Gaza, where Israeli retaliation for the Hamas attacks has claimed the lives of at least 64,000 Palestinians, including hundreds from starvation, and destroyed 75 percent of the buildings in an enclave that is still home to two million people.
Given Israeli control over all of historic Palestine since Israel captured the West Bank and Gaza in the 1967 war, more recognition now will only be meaningful if accompanied by other steps that put pressure on Israel to end the war in Gaza and on Hamas to release remaining hostages. So far, however, those steps have not been sufficient. And Israel’s September 9 strike on Qatar in a failed attempt to kill Hamas leaders has only set back chances for peace.
The UN General Assembly in 2012 by a vote of 138 to 9 approved Palestinian membership as a non-voting observer in return for Palestinian recognition of Israel’s right to the land beyond the West Bank and Gaza. Palestinians have used this status to gain access to other international institutions and to bring war crimes charges successfully against Israel in the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Court of Justice. But few countries have enforced rulings against Israeli leaders; the Trump administration, which is not a member of the ICC, has repeatedly welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington and sanctioned the justices who issued warrants for Netanyahu’s arrest.
In response to the latest announcements by Britain and France, the U.S. State Department in early September refused visas to Palestinian leaders hoping to attend the annual UN General Assembly and designated three Palestinian human rights organizations as terrorist groups for their work with the ICC.
Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said Israel should respond to the growing nominal recognition of Palestine by annexing most of the West Bank, where three million Palestinians are already subject to severe restrictions and frequent attacks by Israeli settlers. That statement triggered a rare protest from the United Arab Emirates, a state that in 2020 recognized Israel under the Abraham Accords, which were brokered by the first Trump administration.
Those who have followed the issue for decades know that the much touted two-state formula is a chimera: There will be no independent Palestinian state in the foreseeable future. Many supporters of such a state have moved on to advocate for Palestinian rights within one state or a confederation comprising Israel, the West Bank, and possibly Jordan. The immediate goal, however, should be to end the Gaza conflict and the suffering of Palestinian civilians and Israeli relatives of the hostages.
Ahmed Moor, a Palestinian American and fellow at the Foundation for Middle East Peace, a Washington-based NGO, said in an interview that “it’s too cynical to say [that recognition of Palestine] is just performative” if it drives momentum to pressure Israel to stop the war. Moor fears that Israel will succeed in ethnically cleansing Gaza and expelling many Palestinians from the West Bank to Jordan but takes some solace in growing opposition to Israeli policies not only in Europe but in both the Democratic and Republican parties in the United States.
In Israel, too, calls to end the war have been getting louder as some among the country’s small population fear for the lives of remaining hostages and tire of constant military call-ups to fight in Gaza. Some Israelis and their U.S. supporters worry that Israel is becoming a pariah state and that major investors will begin to shun the country unless there is peace.
Chuck Freilich, a former Israeli deputy national security adviser, said in response to a query that recognition of Palestine is “a reward for Hamas terrorism, for October 7th, and support for the Palestinians at a time when Israel is under growing international opprobrium, making it that much more painful.”
Freilich argued that the step “is more about French, British, [and] Canadian domestic politics than promoting peace in the Middle East…an empty gesture that will change absolutely nothing in reality… and since it is a reward for Hamas, is counterproductive at this time. The Palestinians must understand that a Palestinian state can only be the outcome of a negotiated process, not violence.”
But with an Israeli government that has made its opposition to any form of Palestinian statehood clear and that is continuing a war that appears to be increasing Hamas recruitment and incentivizing more terrorism rather than destroying the militant group, recognizing those aspirations seems like a no-cost way to keep up momentum for change.
Israelis will never forget Oct. 7 — any more than most Jews will forget the Nazi Holocaust that pushed the international community to recognize the state of Israel after World War II.
Palestinians, on the other hand, see Israel’s birth as the “nakba” or catastrophe that led to the expulsion of some 700,000 Palestinians, many of whose descendants are suffering in Gaza today.
These terrible ordeals have forged determined nationalism in both peoples. Even if there is no Palestine now, it is unrealistic to expect that Palestinian aspirations for equality and justice in their own state or one state will disappear any more than Israeli attachment to theirs.
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