France, Canada, the United Kingdom, Portugal … are some of the countries that have recently announced that they will recognize the Palestinian State or that could do it after summer. The ads arrived in a waterfall before the August holidays and after the images and data of an unprecedented famine in Gaza, caused by the strong block of Israel since the beginning of its offensive against the strip 22 months ago.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has taken an important turn in the past months with respect to Israel and his “right to defend”, after he has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023 – when he launched a war of punishment against the population of the enclave in response to the attacks of the Islamist group Hamás on October 7. If Paris recognizes the Palestinian State in September, it would be the first member of the G7 to do so and the first power of the European Union (in 2024 Spain, Ireland and Norway) did.
The United Kingdom has put several conditions for that recognition: it has raised it as an “award” for Palestine and as a “punishment” for Israel if the Benjamin Netanyahu government does not end the “catastrophic situation” in Gaza and if it does not commit to the so -called solution of the two states (one Hebrew and another Palestinian who live in peace). This solution remains the magical formula to which the international community has resorted for decades, although in practice it is no longer viable because Israel has considerably increased its occupation of the Palestinian lands in the West Bank and East Jerusalem – and prepares to expand its occupation of Gaza.
The pressure within the British government and the Labor Party, as well as public opinion, have made Prime Minister Keir Starmer propose that possible recognition, which would represent an outstanding change of the historical position of the United Kingdom. His foreign minister, David Lammy, said the “responsibility” of London, colonial power in Palestine in the period that culminated in the creation of the State of Israel (1922-1948). It was the then British Foreign Secretary, Arthur Balfour, who wrote the famous Balfour Declaration in 1917 in which he supported the establishment of a “Jewish homeland” in Palestine.
The governments “appear” that act
“This is a symbolic gesture, not accompanied by the necessary measures so that the Palestinians can exercise their right to self -determination and stateness,” says Haizam Amirah Fernández, executive director of the executive of the Contemporary Arab Studies Center (CEARC). The expert points out that the objective is, on the one hand, to “placate public opinions” of those countries, which are mostly opposed to Israel's actions in Gaza; and, on the other hand, “appear” that it is acting in front of the genocide. “It is an appearance that they are doing something, but not what you need to do,” he continues.
“At this point a recognition of the role of the Palestinian State is no longer enough, we are in the phase of applying all the available tools to change the behavior of the state of Israel,” explains Amirah Fernández, detailing that these tools include the sanctions against Israel, their isolation and their treatment as a Paria state. The CEARC director considers that “these pressure measures would apply to any other state that is committing what Israel is committing to change its behavior”, as it was done with the Apartheid regime in South Africa.
Although Amirah Fernández admits that it is difficult for the Israeli Executive to change his policies – which both in Gaza and the West Bank are openly racist with the Palestinians -, the Western powers must send a message to the Israeli citizens: “By this path through which your rulers are going to reach a very bad destination, which is that of a Paria state.”
Israel reacted angrily at the intentions of its historic ally, the United Kingdom, and lamented the change in British government position. Both in that case and in that of France or Canada, the Israeli Foreign Ministry warned that Palestine recognition would be a “reward for Hamas”, despite the fact that these countries have declared their support for the Palestinian authority (Hamás rival), which currently leads the weak Palestinian government based in the occupied Bank Israeli military.
When he announced that his government will recognize Palestine in September, Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney also said that “Hamas must disarm” and will not have “any role in the future governance of Palestine.” For his part, Macron directly communicated his decision to the president of the Palestinian authority, Mahmud Abás, current head of the Palestinian State and the main interlocutor of the international community. According to the Gallic president, the future state has to “accept their demilitarization and fully recognize Israel” – the Palestinian authority recognizes Israel since he began peace negotiations with his leaders in the 90s of the last century.
Who represents the Palestinian people?
Apart from the demands of the international community – more rigid in the case of the Palestinians than of Israel -, the Palestinian authority also faces a crisis of legitimacy in front of its citizens, which will have to be resolved so that the recognition of its state translates into something more than in a mere diplomatic gesture.
“The Palestinian authority does not respond to the aspirations of the majority of the Palestinians,” says Amirah Fernández, describing it as an “ankylosed institution”, headed by “a discredited gerontocracy” that has not summoned elections since 2006 (after which, the struggle for power led to the separation of the West Bank and Gaza under two different governments). The expert warns that it will not help recognize the Palestinian State if it does not support, it helps and guarantees that the Palestinians can have institutions that respond to their democratic will and real needs.
Before any political reform and before raising who is the legitimate representative of the Palestinians or calling elections, the most urgent thing is to end the slaughter in Gaza, where the bombings of the Israeli army have added the attacks against the hungry that are in search of the low humanitarian aid that Israel allows to enter the strip. Every day around a hundred Gazatis dies due to violence and, since mid -July, several do it as a direct result of malnutrition (in total, more than 200 hunger people have died and almost half of them were boys and girls).
As pointed out by the United Nations Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, “the recognition of the Palestinian State, in the culmination of a genocide, is an act of coherence (…) but runs the risk of being a distraction of the existential threat to which the Palestinian people face right now.”
The CEARC director also says that Palestine's recognition “would have made some meaning in other phases, not in the midst of a genocide. We are no longer in a time of gestures but to avoid ethnic cleaning and a multigenerational hate dug”, after a war that has left tens of thousands of wounded, amputated, orphans, widows and truncated lives.
Israel's response
In addition, Amirah Fernández does not rule out that Israel climbs violence before the time of formal recognition, that France and Canada have said that they will formalize during the United Nations General Assembly next September in New York. “It should not be ruled out that the Netanyahu government, before the date of formal recognition, climb in its campaign of the flight forward and the infinite war,” he says.
Israel could attack Iran again, the expert hypotizes, who remembers that when the International Conference was going to be held in favor of the solution of the two states last June Israel launched an offensive against Iran. The initiative launched by France and Saudi Arabia was scheduled between June 17 and 20, with the presence of world leaders, including Macron himself, but Tel Aviv began bombing the Islamic Republic on the 13th.
Finally, the meeting (which was not high level, because they did not attend heads of state or government) took place at the end of July with the United States boycott and less impact that was expected at first. The participating countries – including Spain, Canada, France, Ireland, New Zealand and Portugal – made A call At the end of the three days of meetings in favor of recognizing the state of Palestine “as an essential step towards the solution of the two states” and urged countries who have not yet done so or have promised to do so to do so. In a statement they gave their support to the Palestinian authority, which the Gaza and the West Bank Strip must unify under their government. When the war ends.