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Everyone is suddenly “recognizing” Palestine, but why?

Kit Knightly

In the past 48 hours, the governments of France, San Marino, Luxembourg, Monaco, Andorra, Malta, the UK, Canada, Portugal and Australia have all announced their recognition of the State of Palestine.

It is the greatest number of countries to make this move in the same year since 1988, and they all did it over a long weekend.

Why?

Is it because, by total coincidence, the elected officials of all those countries decided they had been wrong for decades?

Is it because the political pressure from a largely pro-Palestine public was too much?

Is it because they truly want peace and believe this is the way to achieve it?

Does any of that sound likely?

In Italy, one of the global minority that has yet to recognise Palestine, we’re told that mass protests over the weekend were “demanding action over Gaza”.

In his address to the United Nations announcing the move, Emmanuel Macron said “we can no longer wait”…but wait for what? He also repeated his call for a UN peacekeeping force to be deployed on the ground.

Israel has been happily colluding in its own bad guy image, with illegal strikes on Doha, the capital of Qatar, earlier this month and the alleged killing of 31 journalists in Yemen. Not to mention the Israeli finance minister’s gleefully evil declaration of a “real estate bonanza” in Gaza when the bombing is finally over.

Even the US is more shakily behind Israel than usual, with Donald Trump’s administration publicly questioning their airstrikes on Qatar, and articles in the American press calling it “crossing a line the US can’t ignore”. In his UNGA address just an hour or so ago, Trump called for the Gaza war to end “immediately”.

The Economist published this piece five days ago, headlining:

America is falling out of love with Israel

It was only last week that the United Nations commission officially found that Israel was conducting genocide in Gaza, and the General Assembly endorsed a two-state solution. Writing for the BBC, Paul Adams claims that their “isolation is deepening”.

Seems like the worm is turning, no?

But to what end? Where does this story go from here?

Macron’s call for a UN force may be the key. Indonesia’s president has claimed they could supply 20,000 “peacekeepers” if needed. In the US, house Democrats have called for UN peacekeepers to “protect aid convoys” (though they frame that as preventing the aid reaching Hamas, it’s clearly the same agenda).

Meanwhile, EU Chief Ursula Von Der Leyen has pledged the creation of a “Palestine donor group”, a special fund for rebuilding Gaza’s infrastructure.

Maybe a shiny new state is the goal. Pried out of Israel’s grasp, policed by a new international brigade and rebuilt – with UN and EU money – into a model sustainable utopia.

A shining beacon of international cooperation, maybe.

I wouldn’t be surprised.

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Categories: Israel, Israel-Hamas, latest