First in France, then the UK, and now Canada.
Three of the world’s most powerful Western countries have added economic and geopolitical influence to seek a Palestinian state. This is an idea that has already been approved by over 140 other countries.
The move has many motives, from a sense of frustration towards Israel, to domestic pressure, to anger at the image of a hungry Palestinian. Whatever the reason, the Palestinians welcomed the announcement as a boost to their cause. The Israeli government has rejected the call and described them as tantamount to rewarding terrorism.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump appears to be increasingly irritated by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, particularly about the hunger in Gaza that Israeli leaders have denied but are hindering Trump.
Trump wants regional peace and praise for it to be realized: the Nobel Peace Prize. He hopes that Saudi Arabia will normalize relations with Israel, expanding Abraham’s agreement that was cemented between Israel and several other Arab countries during his first term. However, Riyadh was determined that this could not have happened without an irreversible path to the Palestinian state.
But while the latest moves by US allies France, the UK and Canada are largely iconic in many ways, Washington is increasingly isolated in Israel’s support.
The Palestinian state was able to help end the war in which Hamas’ cruel October 7 attacks killed about 1,200 people in Israel almost two years ago and still brought hostages home in Gaza.
But one of the toughest challenges is to imagine what it would look like, as modern Palestinian states have never existed before.
When Israel was founded in the aftermath of World War II, it quickly gained international recognition. That same period is remembered by the Palestinians as al-Nakbah, or “catastrophe.” This is the moment when hundreds of thousands of people fled or were forced to do so.
Since then, Israel has expanded most importantly when Israel turned the tables in the Arab Union during the “Six Day War” in 1967, winning East Jerusalem, West Bank and Gaza. Meanwhile, Palestine’s territory is only shrinking and splitting.
The closest thing to what a future Palestinian state would look like was hashed out in the peace process that became known as the Oslo Accord in the 1990s.
Broadly speaking, the Palestinian state assumed in Oslo, which agreed with both Palestinian and Israeli negotiators, is based on Israel’s 1967 boundaries. The broad overview of Oslo was to do some land trade in one place in a negotiated process to remove the Israeli settlement.
The historic handshake of the White House lawn by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, hosted by Israel’s then Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and then US President Bill Clinton, has remained one of the victories of modern diplomacy. Rabin’s assassination by far-right fanatics in 1995 caused Israel to take over the leadership of the peace superintendent.
And while the Oslo framework lived up to negotiation and academia, there are few initiatives now. What was offered at the time is no longer realistic.
In recent years, Israeli settlements in the West Bank have expanded significantly with the encouragement of the Israeli government, threatening the possibility of creating a Palestinian state adjacent to the region.
Then there is the question of who will govern the future Palestinian state. The Palestinian authority governing parts of the West Bank is distrustful of the Palestinians who view it as weak or corrupt.
Without all these complications, Netanyahu will not accept the Palestinian state. He recently claims it is a “launch pad to annihilate Israel.”
Some members of his cabinet not only reject the expression of an independent state, but also want to annex the territory, but are far more hardline.
These ministers who support the Netanyahu government say they will starve Palestinians in Gaza rather than feeding them, and will collapse the coalition if they suggest they succumb to growing international pressure on Israel.
Netanyahu shows no intention to retreat, and France, the UK and others wear what they force him as badges of honor.
Without Israeli government partners, perceptions of the Palestinian state could remain flat and even further solidify Netanyahu.
If the outcome makes Israel even more distant from the Palestinian state’s potential, it would be a great price.
But at the same time, it is Israel that feels in itself at a disadvantage, as the number of angry ex-partners in the international community, which is likely to increase pressure on Trump, is protesting.
