What recognizing a Palestinian state actually achieves |
On Monday, Australia joined a growing number of Western countries that say they will soon recognize a Palestinian state. That list includes France, the United Kingdom, and Canada, while other Western nations, including Norway, Spain, and Ireland, formally recognized a Palestinian state last year.
The rhetorical shift indicates just how much Israel has isolated itself from even some of its allies as it continues its relentless assault on Gaza — a horrific military campaign that has destroyed the enclave, starved the population, and killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, with experts and leading human rights organizations deeming Israel’s actions an ongoing genocide.
Israel has denounced the move to recognize a Palestinian state as “shameful.” Responding to the UK’s announcement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a post on X that such a move only “rewards Hamas’s monstrous terrorism & punishes its victims.” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio echoed similar criticisms, saying that recognitions of a Palestinian state have “emboldened Hamas and made it harder to achieve peace.”
But, if anything, the recent announcements are coming in a little late. The State of Palestine has already been recognized by 147 out of the 193 member states of the United Nations. Most notably, if France and the UK follow through and recognize Palestine, the US would be the only permanent member of the UN Security Council that doesn’t recognize a Palestinian state — adding international pressure on the US to change its position in the future.
But just because there’s widespread (and growing) recognition of a Palestinian state doesn’t mean that Israel’s occupation will suddenly end. After all, Israel still occupies the West Bank and Gaza, continues to illegally build settlements in Palestinian territories, and........