In recent weeks, the depressing European political discourse on Gaza – and more generally, on the right of Palestinians to self-determination – has cast a few rays of light onto a dismal situation.
France, followed by the UK and Canada, formally announced its intentions to fully recognise a Palestinian state next month.
The first two countries share the biggest historical responsibility for the mayhem endured by the Middle East and its people after the tragic decisions they took a century ago: from the 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement, to the 1917 Balfour Declaration, to the 1919 Treaty of Versailles and its fallout.
If legal rights had real value, and had the countries of the region been braver and savvier, these two top colonial powers would have been buried under a long overdue class-action lawsuit worth billions of dollars for the immense damage they have inflicted on the Middle East.
It is a tragic law of history that the most culpable often escape the punishment they well deserve.
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In the meantime, if France and Britain follow through on their vow to recognise Palestine when the UN General Assembly meets next month, it is difficult to say whether this long-delayed act of justice would improve their respective political standings.
French President Emmanuel Macron, whose approval ratings are low and who has little to show for his historical legacy, might be hoping to boost his popularity among the country’s large and vocal Muslim minority. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is also dealing with plummeting support for the Labour Party – so much so that roughly 18 percent of Britons would consider voting for a new party led by former leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Disastrously packaged gesture
In addition, rather than justifying his overdue decision as what it is – a century-late act of justice – Starmer presented it as a lever to deploy if Israel fails to bring an end to the atrocities it has been carrying out in Gaza. Legal experts are unanimous that this is a genocide.
If his clumsy intent was to make everyone happy, Starmer may find it has the opposite effect. Powerful pro-Israel lobbying groups in the UK will not forgive him, while the growing pro-Palestinian movement will see it for what it is: a disastrously packaged gesture.
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Israel and the US have reacted with fury to these developments, wrongly suggesting that the recognition of a Palestinian state would “reward terror”, while setting back the “peace process”. And yet, three decades after the Oslo Accords, ostensibly designed to bring about that goal, it appears further away than ever, as Israel moves to annex more and more of the land that was supposed to form a Palestinian state.
Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, has said as much. He responded to the recent flurry of recognition announcements by telling the BBC: “It’s not going to happen. There will be no state to recognise.”
Indeed, the US and Israel do not consider the recognition of a Palestinian state to be a long-overdue act of justice that fulfills the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination. Rather, it is nothing more than a bargaining chip – and Israel must always have the last word.
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Only when Israel is satisfied with the conditions attached to the creation of a Palestinian state would this ever be allowed to happen – which, in the current political climate, likely means never.
Until a few months ago, this twisted logic was shared by major European powers – but as images of starving children in Gaza became impossible to ignore, some have finally started to shift their approach.
The real test, however, will not be whether these promises to recognise Palestine are ultimately fulfilled. Rather, it will be in what European democracies are ready to do to stop the ongoing massacre in Gaza, alongside the accelerating annexation, dispossession and deadly settler provocations in the occupied West Bank.
Beyond shedding crocodile tears, are they willing to halt all military assistance to Israel and adopt sanctions against it, with the same zeal displayed against Russia – and following the example of smaller states like Ireland and Slovenia?
Just this week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu levelled harsh new accusations against France over its decision to recognise Palestine, saying the move fuelled antisemitism (and finally getting the scorn he deserved from Paris in response). At the same time, Hamas has formally accepted the latest Gaza ceasefire proposal presented by mediators Egypt and Qatar.
While these might seem to be encouraging signals, neither will end the ordeal facing Palestinians – especially as the US and Israel continue to dig in their heels, with President Donald Trump on Tuesday asserting that both he and Netanyahu were “war heroes”.
This bizarre inversion of reality does not bode well for the future of Gaza.
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.
