Recognizing Palestine Won't Stop the Genocide in Gaza – Sanctions on Israel Will - Opinion - Haaretz.com
International recognition of a Palestinian state rewards Israel, which should be thanking each and every country doing so, since such recognition serves as a misleading alternative to what must actually be done – imposing sanctions.
Recognition is an erroneous substitute to boycotts and punitive measures that should be taken against a country perpetuating genocide. Recognition is hollow lip service that the hesitant and weak European governments are using to show their enraged public that they're not holding their silence.
Recognizing a Palestinian state, which does not and will not exist in the near future, if ever, is shameful silence. People are being starved in Gaza, and Europe's reaction is to recognize a Palestinian state. Will this save starving Gazans? Israel can ignore these declarations with the U.S.' support.
There's talk of a diplomatic "tsunami" in Israel, in the knowledge that it won't reach Israel's shores, as long as recognition isn't accompanied by the imposition of a price tag for genocide.
- Denying Gaza's starvation is no less vile than denying the Holocaust
- Israel's genocide in Gaza: 'Not in my name' won't erase liberal complicity
- The victim identity Israel built over generations now fuels its denial of genocide in Gaza
Outdoing himself was British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, one of the first to recognize Palestine in the current wave, after France. He rushed to frame his step as punishment (a conditional one), thus fulfilling his duty. If Israel behaves well, he promised, his wagging finger will be withdrawn.
What kind of punishment is this, Mr. Prime Minister? If recognizing Palestine will promote a solution, according to your belief, why present it as a penalty? And if it's a punitive measure, where is it?
That's how it is when fear of Donald Trump falls over Europe and paralyzes it, when it is clear that anyone imposing sanctions on Israel will pay for it. The world prefers a verbal fete for now. Sanctions are good when it comes to Russian invasions, not Israeli ones.
Starmer's move led many others to follow suit, which is presented in Israel as a diplomatic landslide, a tsunami. This will not stop the genocide, which will not be halted without practical steps by the international community. These are unbearably urgent since the killing and intense hunger in Gaza continue.
Palestinians receive lentil soup at a food distribution point in Gaza City on Saturday.Credit: AFP/Omar Al-Qattaa
Recognition will also not bring about a state. How did settler leader Daniella Weiss once put it, after a previous wave of recognitions? "I open my window and see no Palestinian state." She won't be seeing one any time soon either.
In the immediate term, Israel benefits from this wave of acknowledgements because it is a substitute for the punishment it deserves. In the long term, there may be some benefit in recognizing an imaginary state, since it raises the need to find a solution.
But one needs an insane amount of optimism and naivete to believe that recognition is still relevant. There has never been a worse time; recognition now is like whistling in the dark. The Palestinians are leaderless, and Israel's leaders have done everything they can to thwart such a state and succeeded.
It's nice that 10 Downing Street wants a Palestinian state, but as long as Jerusalem doesn't, with the extremist settlement of Yitzhar engaged in destroying Palestinian property and growing stronger with Washington blindly supporting Israel, it will not happen.
When the right in Israel is at the peak of its power and the Israeli center votes in the Knesset for annexation and against the establishment of a Palestinian state, when Hamas is the strongest political entity the Palestinians have and the settlers and their helpers are the strongest organization in Israel, what Palestinian state are we talking about? Where would it be?
A storm in a teacup. The world fulfils its duty while Israel destroys and starves. The ethnic cleansing plan espoused by Israel's government is being realized in Gaza first. One cannot conceive of worse conditions for engaging in dreams of statehood.
Where would it be established? In a tunnel dug between Yitzhar and Itamar? Is there a force that could evacuate hundreds of thousands of settlers? Which one?
Is there a political camp that would fight for this?
It would be best if practical punitive measures were first taken, forcing Israel to end the war – Europe has the means – and then bring to the agenda the only solution now remaining: a democracy between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River; one person, one vote. Apartheid or democracy. To our horror, there's no third path anymore.