Against Palestinian Statehood

“The decision by several countries to recognise a Palestinian state is one of the fruits of the October 7 [terrorist attacks],” declared a Hamas official last week. “[Hamas] brought the issue back to the forefront, and that is why all the countries are starting to recognise a Palestinian state.”

Unlike most forms of Hamas propaganda, this claim has the ring of truth. On 24 July, French President Emmanuel Macron declared that France will recognise Palestinian statehood in September. Five days later, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced that the United Kingdom would do likewise as a means to spur a “proper peace process”—unless Israel “takes substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza, agree to a ceasefire, and commit to a long-term, sustainable peace, reviving the prospect of a Two State Solution.” Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has also signalled his intention to recognise a Palestinian state, albeit on the (improbable) condition that Palestinian society be fully demilitarised, democratised, and stripped of Hamas political influence by the end of 2026. None of these announcements would have been made if Israel’s ongoing military response to Hamas’s 2023 terrorist attacks hadn’t generated a surge of sympathy for affected Palestinian civilians, while also sparking a wave of virulent anti-Israeli (and sometimes antisemitic) hatred.

Israel is not committing a genocide in Gaza. But tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians have died (the exact number is impossible to determine because the Hamas officials responsible for releasing casualty figures do not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants), and food shortages have become acute. Images of dead, injured, and malnourished families circulate widely. As a result, Western leaders such as Macron, Starmer, and Carney have faced mounting political pressure to take action of some kind. By offering headline-grabbing announcements regarding Palestinian statehood, they can present themselves as proactive agents of peace.

The idea of Palestinian statehood is hardly novel. An aspirational entity known as the “State of Palestine” has been endorsed, on paper at least, by about three quarters of all United Nations member states. And UN bureaucrats, committees, and “Special Rapporteurs” regularly issue communiqués about the supposed need for the other quarter to follow suit. In 2000, Yasser Arafat was offered a demilitarised Palestinian state by Bill Clinton and Ehud Barak on more than ninety percent of the West Bank and 100 percent of the Gaza Strip. Instead, he chose to unleash a terrorist campaign (euphemistically known as the Second Intifada).