Recognizing Israel, Seems Straightforward Enough, It Isn't.While international law doesn't demand a state identify its physical borders, for Trump to ask Middle Eastern countries, and Pakistan to recognize Israel, it is a significant consideration
U.S. President Donald Trump wants the remaining Middle Eastern countries, as well as Pakistan and Turkey to sign on to the Abraham accords giving diplomatic recognition to Israel as part of an agreement to end the Iran war, which he and Israel’s prime minister started in April. Turkey has recognized Israel since 1949 and both Jordan and Egypt have peace treaties with Israel. The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain are signatory to the Abraham accords. Still it’s an unusual request to attach to a peace deal to end a war in which none of these countries were party to starting. But that aside, as well as the outright refusal of Pakistan and the unlikely support of Saudi Arabia or Qatar to sign on, the question remains what exactly would these countries be recognizing should they choose to buckle to Trump’s demand to sign on to the Abraham accords. Are they giving full diplomatic recognition to a pre-1967 Israel that does not include East Jerusalem, the occupied West Bank, Gaza, the Golan Heights and currently a big chunk of south Lebanon? Or do they do as the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have done and sign on to the Abraham accords, giving formal diplomatic recognition to Israel, but not recognition of Israel’s sovereignty over the occupied Palestinian territories and hope against hope the Israeli leadership doesn’t follow through on its stated goal of denying Palestinians their sovereignty. International law doesn’t explicitly demand a country identify its borders as a prerequisite to recognition, diplomatic, or otherwise, and there are plenty of countries which are recognized despite disputed borders, including in Pakistan’s own neighborhood of South Asia, where Pakistan, India and Afghanistan all dispute some or all of their borders. Still, both Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have flatly rejected recognizing Israel before a Palestinian state is created and Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu as well as most of his right-wing extremist Cabinet have openly refused any Palestinian state now or in the future. Both would seem to have drawn a very clear line in the sand. Yet Trump on his Truth social platform menacingly demanded : “After all of the work done by the United States to try and pull this very complex puzzle together, it should be mandatory that all of these Countries, at a minimum, simultaneously, sign onto the Abraham Accords. . .It should start with the immediate signing by Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and everybody else should follow suit. If they don’t, they should not be part of this Deal in that it shows bad intention.” He also said “I am mandatorily requesting.” which begs the question: What does that even mean? But that aside, the practicality of recognition is fraught with legal and political gray areas that have the potential to be explosive. International law for what it is worth today says Israel’s internationally accepted sovereign territory is distinct from territories occupied in 1967. United Nations Security Council resolutions, International Court of Justice advisory opinions, and longstanding diplomatic practice generally distinguish between the state of Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. Yet Israel’s Prime Minister and its Cabinet minister’s have vowed there would be no Palestinian state and many also advocate for what they euphemistically call “voluntary migration “ from Gaza of Palestinians, which its critics describe as ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza. In January, Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir called for illegal Israeli settlements to return to Gaza and northern West Bank saying: “We have to return home.” Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s Finance Minister described annexing the West Bank as his “life’s mission”. The Israeli Parliament or Knesett in July 2024, passed a resolution by a whopping 68-9 vote rejecting a Palestinian state “west of Jordan”, saying it would pose an “existential danger “ In September 2025 Netanyahu in an official statement said “There will be no Palestinian State” saying efforts to press for a separate Palestinian state was an effort to force a “terror state on Israel”. The pattern is clear: Netanyahu has moved from rejecting unilateral Palestinian statehood to publicly ruling out a Palestinian state altogether; Smotrich has openly framed West Bank sovereignty/annexation as a strategic goal; Ben-Gvir has repeatedly advocated Gaza resettlement and Palestinian “voluntary migration”; and the Knesset has formally rejected Palestinian statehood west of the Jordan. So why should Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, whose stated objectives in the Middles East, is a Palestinian state, sign on to the Abraham accords when Israel has made clear its position, which flatly rejects and opposes both their demands for a Palestinian state. It is not as if the world will force Israel to adopt a two-state solution even as roughly 147 of the United Nations 193 member states recognize the State of Palestine. have. It couldn’t or wouldn’t stop Israel from killing more than 70,000 Palestinians, 22,000 of them children or invading Lebanon, killing more than 3,000 Lebanese and driving more than one million from their homes, forcing them to live on the street where they fight for their dignity. The Abraham accord is not meant as a formula for peace in the Middle East, but rather another U.S. demand for states to capitulate to Washington and Israel’s demands, without any expectation that Washington or Israel will concede, or even consider their demands. |