The Folly of Preemptive Recognition of a Palestinian State.
Because you can't just wish a State into being.
No sooner had former President Joe Biden recovered from his shock and revulsion at the Hamas sponsored carnage in Israel on October 7, 2023, then he was calling for a Palestinian State to be established in Judea and Samaria, Gaza and East Jerusalem (hereinafter “Palestinian Occupied Territories” or “TOP”). He was soon joined by high level administration officials and a coterie of government heads. Of all responses to a modern-day pogrom complete with infanticide, rape and Hamas’ signature kidnapping, the suggestion of an independent Palestinian state is absurd. Never mind that the Palestinians themselves weren’t asking for a State confined to TOP. If anyone had asked Yahyeh Sinwar why he orchestrated the October 7 massacre does anyone think the answer would have been a “Palestinian State”?
Much of the Western world views a Palestinian state as a panacea to the scourge of Palestinian violence. Historically, it has been assumed, against the weight of all available evidence, that providing the Palestinians with a State in TOP would quell their penchant for murdering Jews. In Western Europe where Jew hatred permeates the highest echelons of government, leaders took the call a step further by pre-emptively recognizing a “Palestinian State” before it even had defined borders and the tools needed for independence. Most recently, France announced its decision to join Spain, Ireland, Norway and others in this particular Hall of Shame. Said Prime Minister Emanuel Macron: “I will do it because I believe that at some point it will be right and because I also want to participate in a collective dynamic, which must also allow all those who defend Palestine to recognize Israel in turn, which many of them do not do." This is Macron’s evaluation of the glorification of extreme violence against Jews paying some lip-service to Israel’s very right to exist. Note, Macron’s recognition of “Palestine” is not conditioned on reciprocity of any kind.
The Palestinians have consistently rejected proposals to create a state in TOP because they are unwilling to accept a state limited to TOP. As Professor Eugene Kontorovich, an expert on International Law and a fellow of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and a member of the Law Faculty of Northwestern University observed, “when [people seeking self-determination say] “no” to internationally-backed offers of full independent statehood …. this means they accept the alternative, which is the status quo[1]”. But Western leaders treat Palestinians like children who don’t know what is best for them (which they don’t but that is beside the point). By failing to hold the Palestinians to account for their words and deeds, the West absolves the Palestinians of all responsibility for their actions and then blames Israel when it defensively responds to the aggression that constantly erupts from TOP. The sole purpose of recognizing a Palestinian state is to undermine Israel’s sovereignty over TOP and exclude Israel from the conversation. It is the height of disrespect.
The Palestinians already govern themselves via the Palestinian Authority. On October 7, 2023, the whole world saw what happens when the Palestinians are left on their own without military oversight from Israel. The result is billions of taxpayer dollars poured into underground tunnels and other terror infrastructure- not state building. October 7 was preceded by years of rocket attacks from Gaza against Israeli population centers. Countries recognizing a Palestinian pseudo-State are essentially saying that the murder, rapes, and kidnappings of civilians perpetrated by Palestinians on October 7 can be effective tools of self-determination.
Recognizing a Palestinian State without a peace agreement, not only ignores Israeli claims of sovereignty and security concerns, it is also a violation of International Law and the Oslo agreements.
In 1967 after a consortium of Arab countries started and lost their third war of attempted annihilation against Israel, the Sinai Peninsula, the Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip, Judea and Samaria and the Old City of Jerusalem all came under Israeli control. At the conclusion of the Six Day War, the U.N. Security Council passed Resolution 242 with the aim of establishing the guidelines for a “peaceful” settlement to the conflict. Accordingly, the Resolution provides for“ a just and lasting peace in the Middle East which should include the application of . . . withdrawal of Israeli armed forces [and]. . . and respect for and acknowledgment of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every State in the area and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force”. The Palestinians have rejected the single obligation imposed on them by the Resolution. Recognizing a Palestinian State at this juncture permits the Palestinians to make an end run around Resolution 242 by compelling Israeli withdrawal from TOP without a commitment from the Palestinians to cease acts of terror against Israel.
The preemptive recognition of a Palestinian state is an exercise in wishful thinking. A state cannot be recognized into existence. Only after the building blocks of a state are coalesced into a coherent system of government within a defined territory can other polities recognize it as such, as happened when Israel was created. How can the Palestinians have a state when they have so dismally failed to build any infrastructure or independent government? If we posit that the PA is the governing body of “Palestine” how can they form a state when they are reliant on Israel to manage the threat against them from Hamas who would certainly assume control of TOP as they did in Gaza as soon as Israel withdrew. [2] The Palestinian Authority has (despite massive financial support from the EU and many other states) been unable to build the infrastructure necessary for statehood. Palestinian elections have not been held since 2006, mainly due to the ongoing, internal conflict between Hamas and Fatah and the PA continues to devote significant resources to terrorism, such as payments to the families of terrorists (“pay to slay”).
The subtext in declarations like Macron’s is that Palestinian Statehood is the path forward to resolving the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. But there is no evidence to support this hypothesis. The opposite is true. Recognizing a Palestinian State without any commitment from the Palestinians to refrain from terrorism let alone accept Israel’s existence is but one step in achieving the Palestinian’s true aspirations as repeatedly stated by every Palestinian leader and the Palestinian people themselves; that is the end of Israel.
[1] Interview with Sarah Haetzni-Cohent (Aprilm8, 2018) Why Israeli Rule in the West Bank Is Legal under International Law
https://jcpa.org/why-israeli-rule-in-the-west-bank-is-legal-under-international-law/
[2] Tucker, A. “Why recognizing Palestine as a state is a bad idea” (March 19, 2021)
https://www.thinc-israel.org/articles/why-recognizing-palestine-as-a-state-is-a-bad-idea/
Perhaps it's a display of gentile guile clearly visible all the while as yet another humiliation ritual for Israel by the hair sniffing plagiarizing accused of sexual violence against a staffer and first husband to his children's babysitter after a suspicious death of his first wife where he framed an innocent man for being a drunk driver, announced that Bibi needed a come to Jesus moment 😳
No other Nation receives such ritualistic humiliation rituals.
Last week Trump had to tell Bibi how much money he gave them on camera and blind side him with the Iran negotiation announcement.
I recall a thing about hell to pay if the hostages aren't released by inauguration Day 🤦 and America got its own humiliation rituals with Canada Greenland and a new Trump tax on our phones last month to facilitate the increase in spam calls by the FCC.
Disturbing truth.