In the 22nd month of Israel’s brutal attacks on Gaza, it is not enough that it has committed a great genocide by destroying almost all of Gaza and killing more than 60,000 Palestinians, but it has also been undeniably revealed that it has prevented humanitarian aid from entering Gaza and condemned Gazans to starvation. Western countries, which are so-called champions of democracy, international law and human rights, have begun to criticize Israel for the first time and have started announcing that they will recognize the State of Palestine at the opening of the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly in September.
Regardless of the reason, all countries that have announced their decision to recognize Palestine should be commended. Despite Israel’s brutality and massacres, they announced their decision at the risk of being targeted by the Trump administration, which stands behind Israel, and have not backed down so far. However, it is unclear how sincere these steps are, what the actual boundaries of recognition of a Palestinian state are, and whether these recognition decisions will deter Israel and the United States behind it. Therefore, the true purpose and possible consequences of these decisions must be analyzed in detail.
In addition, the important question of why Western countries have now taken the initiative to recognize Palestine remains to be answered. While these decisions are considered to be related to recent developments in Gaza, their timing is also significant in light of Donald Trump’s view of the EU.
Real content of the decision?
Following Spain, Ireland and Norway, which officially recognized Palestine last year, French President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement on July 24 that France would recognize Palestine led us to believe that there was growing support for Palestine in the West. Following France and the United Kingdom, Portugal, Canada and Australia have also announced that they will recognize Palestine. This is interpreted as France and the U.K.’s decisions having created a domino effect across the Western camp, with new countries likely to join the process by September. However, it is unclear what exactly the recognition decisions of these countries mean.
While Israel has almost wiped Gaza off the map, killed more than 60,000 Palestinians and turned Gaza into an uninhabitable place, it is unclear how France’s recognition of Palestine as a sovereign state within the context of the U.N.’s two-state solution plan will affect the situation on the ground. Perhaps the most significant uncertainty is whether Gaza will be included within the borders of the recognized Palestinian state. Or, to what extent the West Bank, which Israel is attempting to annex, will be included within the borders of the Palestinian state.
Another controversial issue is whether this decision, which has been categorically rejected by Israel, can be implemented without the approval of the U.S. This is because, while the recognition of Palestine by 147 countries has not had any positive effect on resolving the issue, it is unclear whether the participation of France, the U.K. and a few more Western countries, in this process will contribute to resolving the issue, or more accurately, to stopping Israel.
One more controversial issue is the claim that Palestine, once recognized, will be required to make certain concessions in line with Israel’s demands. According to these claims, the Palestinian state will only exist in name, but will continue to exist as a structure dependent on Israel in terms of security, foreign policy and economic issues. Therefore, it remains unclear whether the Palestinian state that is said to be recognized will be accepted as a sovereign and independent state with its capital in Jerusalem and within the 1967 borders, and this uncertainty raises concerns about the sincerity of the statements in question.
At this point, we cannot answer any of these questions, but at least after Sept. 20, we will be able to see some of the question marks disappear and understand how sincere the recognition decision really is.
Timing of decisions
Despite Israel’s large-scale massacre and genocide in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, we have witnessed that, with the exception of Spain and Ireland, almost no country in Europe has criticized Israel. On the contrary, they have tacitly supported it. However, following Trump’s election as U.S. president, the Biden administration’s adoption of a policy opposed to that of the EU and NATO, and the Ukraine war have highlighted the necessity for the U.K., along with EU countries, to pursue an independent policy from the U.S.
Under Trump’s leadership, the U.S. has risked destabilizing the current global system by disregarding international institutions and international law solely to protect Israel. It has abandoned its NATO allies, with whom it fought against Russia in Ukraine, or ended its privileged partnership with these countries by imposing additional customs tariffs.
Furthermore, the events that have unfolded since Oct. 7 have clearly demonstrated that Israel’s goal is not merely to eliminate Hamas, and it is evident that Western countries are not particularly pleased with Israel’s true intentions. In the new situation, Western countries with close ties and interests in the Middle East, such as France and the U.K., have realized that Israel’s attempts to reshape the region according to its own interests are aimed at removing Western countries other than the U.S. from the region. For this reason, they are seen to be trying to dissuade Israel from these moves by sending messages to Israel through statements recognizing Palestine.
In other words, there is no indication that the Western countries in question made this decision because they care about Palestine or the Palestinians. On the contrary, it is clear that all of this is part of the imperial West’s ongoing efforts to maintain its hold on the region.
Moral responsibility, legal obligation
Since Oct. 7, Western leaders have accepted Israel’s massacres and crimes of genocide in Gaza as legitimate self-defense, citing Operation Al-Aqsa Flood as justification, and have refrained from even criticizing Israel, let alone demanding that it stop. However, throughout this entire process, people in nearly all European countries have taken to the streets and called on their own governments and the international community to take action to stop Israel.
To date, demonstrations supporting Palestine or criticizing Israel have been banned in countries such as Germany, France and the U.K., and despite this, people participating in protests have been subjected to disproportionate violence. While people have risked their lives to stop Israel’s massacres in Gaza and ensure that it is brought to justice for its crimes of genocide, their governments have remained blind and deaf. However, Israel’s massacres in Gaza have now reached such a scale that neither Israel’s propaganda campaigns nor the U.S.’ strong support for Israel can prevent Western countries from remaining silent any longer.
In particular, South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) decision to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant have confronted Israel with international law for the first time in its history, while also forcing Western countries to react against Israel.
As a result, although the details of the decisions of France, the U.K., Portugal, Canada and Australia to recognize Palestine are not fully known and the timing is considered meaningful, the images coming from Gaza ultimately reveal that Israel has undeniably committed genocide. This situation appears to have compelled Western states to recognize Palestine, both out of moral responsibility and legal obligation.
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