Following the atrocities committed by Israel during Operation Protective Edge over the summer, which left over 2,000 civilians dead, including over 400 children massacred, Palestinian leaders have scrambled to return to diplomatic pathways in an attempt to establish recognition of a Palestinian state based upon dubious legitimacy. This legitimacy would ultimately help bring Palestine’s case against Israel for war crimes at the International Criminal Court — something Palestinians have not been able to do without recognition of Palestinian statehood.
In what appeared to be a promising first step, both Sweden and the United Kingdom made international headlines by recognizing a Palestinian state, but only within the 1967 borders — which means supporting a two-state solution: one Arab for Muslims and Christians, and one for Jews. While this recognition has been applauded, it has also been rightly criticized for still legitimizing Israel’s illegal occupation and the Zionist colonization of Palestinian territory and the ethnic cleansing that took place in 1948, when Israel was established as a state by imperialist nations on historic Palestine.
But, on Nov. 15, 1988, the Palestinian Liberation Organization issued its Declaration of Independence, in which Zionist colonization was eliminated from the narrative to shift the focus to “military occupation” — a convenient term for Western powers. Additionally, the text refers to the United Nations’ Partition Plan (Resolution 181) as providing legitimacy for a Palestinian state, despite the obvious international conspiracy to accommodate Zionist colonial ideology in practice, which means a Jewish-only state, ethnically cleansing the native Muslim and Christian Palestinian populations from historic Palestine.
Hence, the contradiction within the text exhibiting the PLO’s willingness to compromise on historic Palestine:
“Despite the historical injustice inflicted on the Palestinian Arab people resulting in their dispersion and depriving them of their right to self-determination, following upon UN General Assembly Resolution 181 (1947), which partitioned Palestine into two states, one Arab [Muslim & Christian], one Jewish, yet it is this resolution that still provides those conditions of international legitimacy that ensure the right of the Palestinian Arab people to sovereignty.”
The two-state “solution”
The deterioration of Palestinians’ rights to territory and memory commenced with the Zionist settler-colonial project which, through implementation, dates back to 1882. As Palestinian resistance forces negotiated with imperialist powers like the U.K. to achieved a corrupt form of legitimacy, discourse on behalf of the Palestinian leadership contributed to the upholding of Zionist and imperialist narratives to the detriment of Palestinian memory. Liberation of historic Palestine was forsaken in favor of an imperialist-supported two-state conspiracy that is internationally deemed a “solution.”
It is within this context that the recent symbolic overtures to recognize Palestine as a state should be analyzed. While Israel is incensed by Sweden and the U.K.’s recent moves to recognize a Palestinian state, it is just as important to realize that symbolism requires that a framework transpires into reality. Given the imperialist rhetoric about the two-state conspiracy, recognition of Palestine is being based upon the permanent fragmentation of Palestinian territory – with the ultimate aim of strengthening Israel’s imperialist-supported colonial state.
Recognition of a Palestinian state is not a new concept, which makes the recent overtures a continuation of previous recognitions also based upon adherence to the two-state conspiracy.
Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven issued a statement clarifying the government’s decision – namely, the contradictory insistence upon recognizing the legitimate demands of Palestinians and Israel’s alleged “national self-determination and security.” Löfven noted, “A two-state solution requires mutual recognition and a will to coexist peacefully. Therefore, Sweden will recognize the State of Palestine.”
The statement was reconfirmed by the Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs Margot Wallström, who tweeted: “Recognising Palestine: Important step towards a two-state solution. Both sides must be respected.”
On Oct. 13, the Parliament of the United Kingdom also expressed its stance in a non-binding vote that calls upon Britain to recognize Palestine. The motion explicitly states that “this house believes that the government should recognise the state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel as a contribution to securing a negotiated two-state solution.”
Predictably, the slightest indication of recognition in favor of Palestine, despite the possibility of continuing negative implications for Palestinians, has raised the ire of Israeli officials. The Embassy of Israel in London issued a statement about prioritizing negotiations ahead of statehood for Palestinians. “Sending a message to Palestinians that they do not need to make hard choices for peace, and to Israelis that their concerns are of no import, only undermines the efforts of those working to bring about a real and lasting change,” it asserts.
Meanwhile, the Israeli Foreign Ministry issued a statement echoing this notion, saying, “Premature international recognition sends a troubling message to the Palestinian leadership that they can evade the tough choices that both sides have to make, and actually undermines the chances to reach a real peace.”
However, the concerns Israel flaunts about international recognition of Palestine conceal an underlying reality – a satisfaction that, despite the recent developments, international recognition of a Palestinian state will not jeopardize the existence, and indeed, the expansion of settler-colonialism in Palestine. On Oct.1, the Times of Israel reported on government approvals for the construction of 2,610 dwellings for colonial settlers in East Jerusalem — the latest in a series of colonization projects that were particularly prominent during the stalled U.S.-brokered negotiations. If any significance can be garnered from the symbolic gesture, it is a continued deterioration of Palestinian rights and territory under the guise of allegedly successful diplomacy.
Little has been mentioned about the ramifications of a hypothetical Palestinian state based upon fragments of Palestinian territory. Primarily, the move toward recognition based upon the two-state conspiracy obliterates the issue of settler-colonialism in Palestine and imperialist expansion in the Middle East.
A duplicitous scheme
The Palestinian Authority has long since proven its collaboration with Israel and U.S. imperialism through various forms of acquiescence, including the acceptance of Israel’s right to exist; ridiculing the right of return for all Palestinians; attempting repeatedly to marginalize and criminalize Palestinian resistance; bargaining for political prisoners’ freedom and ceding further land for settlement expansion; insisting upon the resumption of negotiations with Israel and its imperialist allies; attempting to secure recognition from countries such as France, whose pro-Zionist stance has been repeatedly confirmed; and holding sacred the issue of security-coordination with Israel’s security services, for which it receives compensation from the United States.
“Security cooperation between the Palestinian Authority and the occupation state is also a U.S. policy, not just as a political position but as a practical matter – its implementation is supervised by the U.S., reports are sent to a U.S. general, because this is the condition under which the P.A. security agencies are funded and supplied, technically and financially.”
With Palestinian leaders, especially in the aftermath of the formation of the unity government, willing to consolidate the compromise of relinquishing Palestine according to the hegemonic narrative perpetrated by Israel, the recent symbolic recognition from Sweden and the U.K. constitute nothing but an additional affirmation of Palestine’s deterioration through an internationally-accepted compromise.
Israel’s settler-colonial state — an entity that has proven profitable to its imperialist-aligned allies — is the major factor standing in the way of Palestine reclaiming all of its territory and independence. Symbolic recognition of Palestine based upon a compromised proposal designed to give Israel the absolute right to colonize should not be hailed as an achievement.
Rather, it should be understood that Palestinian sovereignty and independence remains an impossible achievement if Israel’s right to colonize, plunder and massacre to the detriment of the indigenous population is acknowledged, wrongly legitimized and permanently supported by the same international community that hypocritically hails the Palestinian Authority’s duplicitous democracy scheme as a solution for Palestine.