The independent state of Palestine has been the most urgent issue before the UN and the world leaders since the birth of Israel in 1948. During the past few weeks, there has been a flurry of recognition of independent Palestine by the great powers of the world, including Britain, Canada and Australia. Ironically, this awakening of the world powers has come after thousands of Palestinians have been butchered by the relentless Israeli onslaught, countless others injured, and many more made homeless.
Now, for the first time, the reality of a Palestinian nation and country is being openly discussed and acknowledged by the powers that be. That point was made all the more manifest at the United Nations by French President Emmanuel Macron very recently. Paris’ recognition of Palestine, along with that by Belgium, underscores the unvarnished truth that the Middle East will never be a place of peace without Palestinians being accorded the right to their own state.
This new race to acknowledge the reality of a free Palestine is deeply disturbing for the powerful figures in Washington, DC and Tel Aviv. But they too will have to wake up to the truth of the matter that an independent state of Palestine is no longer a question that they could avoid or delay for their own vested interests.
It is now clear that Gaza, the West Bank and all other areas under Israeli occupation must be vacated by Israel to implement the long-standing issue of a two-state solution and formally recognise the new independent and sovereign state of Palestine, welcoming them into the community of world nations and members of the UN.
Benjamin Netanyahu may continue to beat his chest and beat the war drums, but the Western world, including the USA, has to form a united front as it did for Israel in 1948. It is high time that the Western democracies wake up to the reality of the times and pressurise Israel to get out of all the Palestinian territories and dismantle all the Jewish colonies on Arab land.
The old homes, the orchards that bore fruit across the generations, the hills and valleys which shaped the lyrics of unsurpassable melody, passed under Israeli control long ago
By now, Britain, France, Canada, Australia and several smaller states in Europe are convinced that Palestine deserves to be a free state. That is a fine template to begin with, which must be followed by global efforts toward creating the conditions that will formally and legally lead to the establishment of the State of Palestine in terms of geography.
Creation of a Palestinian state is not rocket science; it is simple. All military operations by Israel in Gaza must come to an end. Netanyahu and his generals must be held responsible for their genocidal actions in Gaza, violating the norms of a rules-based international order, violations Israel has committed through raining down firepower on Beirut, Doha, Ramallah, and other sovereign capitals in the region.
It is also important that sanctions be readied for application against Israel should Netanyahu, encouraged by his friends in Washington, remain adamant about continuing to pursue his policy in the region. Leaders of many European countries have repeatedly argued that all Israeli hostages must be freed before the establishment of an independent Palestine.
It is now imperative that these Western leaders also condemn the genocide and the atrocities being committed by the state of Israel under the protection and patronage of the USA and the EU. To ask Hamas to free the hostages is welcome. But any silence by Western nations, which have now come forth to recognise the sovereignty of Palestine, on the killings, famine conditions and displacement of people in Gaza will render hollow their diplomatic support for Palestine.
In short, pressure must be built by the West for Israel and its American backers to understand that the time is finally here for the long injustice caused to Palestinians to be rolled back through an application of international law.
In May 1948, when Israel came into being, the Palestinian state could have been established, but the Arab leadership of the time threw away that chance. In the process, the Palestinians lost a country, their heritage and their freedom. Palestinian freedom and legitimacy were buried deep inside the sands of the Zionist plans.
Just 19 years later, in 1967, Israel inflicted a crushing defeat on the combined armies of Egypt, Jordan and Syria and occupied Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank. To rub salt in the wounds, it was announced that now Jerusalem would be the capital of Israel. No more would the ancient city be home, in that biblical sense, to diverse faiths, but would be part of Israel. It mattered little that the Israelis were an occupation force. What did matter was that they felt happier annexing territory not their own.
After the 1967 humiliation of the Arab states, Gaza and the West Bank areas became the symbol of independent Palestine. Yasser Arafat of the PLO led the independence movement and ultimately shook hands with Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres in an agreement with Israel. Anwar Sadat of Egypt paid with his life for his agreement with Israel in the form of the Camp David Accords signed on 17th September 1978.
Successive Israeli administrations, and you can certainly trace them all the way back to the Menachem Begin era, carefully nurtured a policy of keeping Palestinian statehood at bay.
There is that essential element of morality, too, that one cannot quite ignore about Palestine. Think here of Palestine being a metaphor for everything that has been lost and all that may yet be reclaimed. The old homes, the orchards that bore fruit across the generations, the hills and valleys which shaped the lyrics of unsurpassable melody, passed under Israeli control long ago.
You have here a condition where a state, Israel, was cobbled into shape through means patently injudicious. And you have too the unambiguous immorality of that state extending its reach through seizing and keeping what is not its own. It is this deep-rooted injustice that successive Tel Aviv governments have nurtured without embarrassment.