Out of five permanent members of the Security Council, four have joined the rest of the world in their demand for recognition of the Palestinian state without further delay, writes Anisur Rahman
ANTONIO Guterres, the UN secretary general, once again categorically said that the recognition of the statehood of Palestine was not a reward or favour to the Palestinian people, but a right they deserved. The UN secretary general has maintained this position from the beginning. French president Immanuel Macron and British prime minister Keir Starmer last week echoed Guterres鈥檚 position and formally announced recognition of Palestine as a sovereign state. Actually, they joined more than 140 other countries that also recognised the statehood of Palestine. Besides the USA, the only significant country that has yet to recognise Palestine is Germany. Had they not committed a genocidal crime against the Jews in the past, they would have recognised the sovereignty of Palestine much earlier. Italy鈥檚 Meloni is a Trump ally. But she has not expressed outright support for Israel.
Israel is desperately trying to establish that recognition of Palestine is a reward for Hamas terrorism. And the US is echoing the Israeli narrative. At times, one becomes bewildered as to who follows whom. Israel follows the US or vice versa. Certainly, Washington still adheres to the dictates of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
Some pro-Israeli analysts plead that, due to some unfulfilled conditions, a Palestinian state cannot be recognised now. They state that Palestine does not have a definite territory with a demarcated boundary. It lacks a functional government and an army to defend its sovereignty. They avoid mentioning the fact that when Israel was created by the big powers in 1948, the land that was under British mandate was divided into two parts, one for Israel and the other for the Palestinian people. Approximately 62 per cent of the territory was allocated for the Palestinian Arabs. Secondly, the pre-1967 borders are internationally recognised as the territory of these two states. The UN adopted a resolution in this regard decades ago. Israel has built several illegal settlements by occupying Palestinian land. They intend to split the Palestinian land into non-contiguous and fragmented territories so that it becomes impossible to make a viable Palestine. They are adopting the 鈥楤antustan鈥� policy of the then apartheid South African government. Furthermore, they aim to alter the demographic composition of the area.
Palestine had a functional and very active government when Yasir Arafat was alive and in power in the West Bank. A more radical organisation, Hamas, came to power in Gaza through an election. And very interestingly, in the beginning, Israel gave tacit support to Hamas with the intention of curbing Fatah and Yasir Arafat鈥檚 popularity and authority. They incited divisions among Palestinians and followed the US tactic of supporting the Taliban in Afghanistan to defeat the Russians. Now it has become a boomerang for them.
The Palestinians do not have an army because the Israeli-US axis does not allow it. All have seen the power of the Palestinian militia. If allowed to form a non-terrorist army, the future Palestinian government can have it very quickly.
The only valid point Israel has is that Hamas carried out a terrorist attack on innocent Israelis. They killed approximately 1200 people and abducted around 250 Israeli civilians and soldiers as hostages. No one can support these terrorist acts. However, the courageous UN secretary general has a point when he said that October 7 did not happen in a vacuum or from a void. And the Israel-Palestine conflict did not start on October 7, 2023.
Israeli crime is much bigger and has a longer history. Since 1948, they have killed thousands of innocent Palestinians, uprooted more than a million Arabs from their homes, occupied their lands, and destroyed their ancestral houses. Besides, thousands of Palestinians have been imprisoned. Even Israeli retaliatory atrocities have exceeded the so-called principle of proportionality. In the name of self-defence, Israel is carrying out state terrorism and committing genocide.
The only country that is unconditionally patronising Israel is the United States of America. Even her most obedient European ally, the United Kingdom, has at last departed from Washington on this issue. Out of five permanent members of the Security Council, four have joined the rest of the world in their demand for recognition of the Palestinian state without further delay. Many political observers believe that Trump and the US cannot indefinitely avoid the inevitability of the statehood of Palestine. The influence of AIPEC is dwindling in the United States. Unconditional support for Israel is fast evaporating among the members of the younger generation. Even the war industries received the alarm sounds. Some powerful and wealthy Middle Eastern countries are turning to China for arms supply. The divide-and-rule policy of the US in the region is not working so well now. Egypt and Jordan are afraid because the Israelis are trying to transfer the Gaza and West Bank problems to them. The Saudis cannot risk internal rifts and chaos by siding with the Israelis. Above all, voices are raised to bring the US under judicial scrutiny for its collaboration with Israeli war crimes. The US might not be immune, though it is not a signatory to the ICC instruments. Will Trump be willing to join Netanyahu, who is now under an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes? Narcissist Trump lives in a delusional stage when he dreams of getting a Nobel Peace Prize. Renowned Israeli columnist Gideon Levy recently wrote, 鈥業f Netanyahu and Trump deserve a prize, it is the genocide prize.鈥� Everybody would agree with Levy that Trump could end the war with a single phone call to Netanyahu, asking him to stop it. Who knows? This might really bring him a Nobel Prize.
Let there be no illusion that, although these recognitions by some major powers have great symbolic value, they will remain hollow until Palestine can function as a real and viable independent state. Follow-up steps must be taken urgently.
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听Anisur Rahman is a senior Bangladeshi journalist now residing in Sweden.
