“The State of Palestine” between liquidation of the cause and continuation of the struggle

By Gilbert Achcar

 Faced with the current catastrophe which exceeds the Nakba of 1948 in horror, atrocity, lethality, destruction and displacement of population, the "Palestinian Authority" launched from Ramallah a new request to the United Nations Security Council for its recognition as a member state of the international organization in the same way as other member states. 

The Palestinian condition has deteriorated beyond anything seen in more than 75 years of suffering and oppression since the Zionist movement seized most of the land in Palestine between the river and the sea and completed occupying what remained less than twenty years later. Faced with the current catastrophe which exceeds the Nakba of 1948 in horror, atrocity, lethality, destruction and population displacement, the "Palestinian Authority" (PA) launched from Ramallah an initiative supposed to compensate for the suffering of the Palestinian people, namely a new request to the United Nations Security Council for the recognition of the PA of Ramallah as a member state of the international organization on the same basis as other member states.

Rejoice, people of Palestine. Your enormous suffering was not in vain. They are even on the verge of taking a big step towards a “solution” to your cause, the same “solution” (here in the sense of liquidation) about which Joe Biden – the partner of the Zionist government in the ongoing genocidal war on the land of Palestine – affirmed, from the first days of the frenzied campaign launched more than six months ago, that it was becoming urgent to extinguish the Palestinian volcano which continues to inevitably erupt and intermittently, but at an accelerated pace in recent years. The truth is that Biden, upon his return to the White House as president, sought above all easy political "success" in the Middle East by striving to get the Saudi kingdom to board the "war" bandwagon. normalization with Israel", which his predecessor, Donald Trump, had set on a new path with the Abraham Accords concluded with the complicity of the United Arab Emirates.

Biden realized that trying to advance the so-called “two-state solution” would bring him into confrontation with his “dear friend” Benjamin Netanyahu. He chose to avoid this for opportunistic reasons and because of his passion for Zionism, to which he once openly declared his personal adherence. His administration's efforts therefore focused on the path of "normalization", neglecting that of "solution" until the volcano exploded again with the operation launched by Hamas and the war of annihilation waged. by Israel that followed, unprecedented in madness and intensity of destruction for at least half a century, not only in the Middle East but throughout the world. The “solution” (liquidation) therefore returned to the table, and the American president called for the “revitalization” of the Ramallah PA. The latter quickly complied, interpreting the request as it wished, not as the replacement by democratic elections of its aging leader lacking any legitimacy, but rather as the replacement of its prime minister by another with political ambitions. lesser ones, in a way that fooled no one.

The PA was thus emboldened to officially demand that it be granted a seat as a regular member of the UN, instead of the only decision that could have redeemed it in the face of history, which would have been to declare civil disobedience. to Israel of its "authority", devoid of any authority except to serve the objectives of the occupation and which watches helplessly, not only the annihilation of Gaza, but also the rampant genocide underway in the West Bank itself. And if it was impossible for them to end their relations with the Zionist state, it would have been better for them to announce the dissolution of their "authority" rather than to continue to participate in the liquidation of the cause of their people . Because if they are today closer than ever to obtaining the desired seat, it is not thanks to their diplomatic prowess, but only because granting the "State of Palestine" full membership at the UN has become the cheapest way for Western governments to claim to somewhat counterbalance their unconditional support for the ongoing genocidal war, which has lasted too long and has worsened in horror, until the current use of famine as a weapon of war.

Great Britain itself, through its foreign minister and former prime minister, has announced its willingness to consider recognizing the "state" of the PA, while other European countries, including Spain, followed by France, began to prepare for similar recognition. It should be noted that the same British government which expresses its readiness for this recognition, rejects the call made by official and unofficial British legal experts to stop supplying weapons to the State of Israel, as this constitutes a violation of international law by sharing responsibility for a war that violates the most fundamental rules of this law regarding the conduct of war. It has therefore become certain that efforts to grant the PA a regular seat in the UN will not be blocked by a French or British veto, so the only question remaining is what the PA will do. American administration. She was the first to call for the creation of a "Palestinian state", but she does not want to completely sever her relations with Netanyahu, nor indeed with most of the Zionist establishment which opposes such a Steps. She also fears strengthening Netanyahu's position by portraying him as a stubborn defender of Zionist interests in the face of all pressure, including from big brother and accomplice in crime. The Biden administration could therefore once again resort to abstention under any pretext, with great cowardice.

As for the result, it will be like the mountain that gave birth to a mouse, because granting “Palestine” (that is to say almost ten percent of its historical territory) an ordinary seat at the UN is nothing more than a mouse compared to the immense mountain of hardships that the Palestinian people have endured and continue to endure. What value should be given, in fact, to a State founded on fragmented territories under the total control of the Zionist State, such that its supposed sovereignty would be of a type that would make it envy the bantustans created in the past by the regime? of apartheid in South Africa?

The only progress that could be made by an international recognition of the State of Palestine would be if the first declaration of that State after its recognition included an insistence on the immediate cessation of the ongoing aggression, a call to impose reparations on the the Zionist state for the crimes it has committed, the demand that all Palestinian detainees be released and that all Zionist armed forces and settlers be withdrawn from all territories occupied in 1967, including Arab Jerusalem. This should be combined with an appeal to the international community to allow the return of all Palestinian refugees who so wish, and their accommodation in the settlements after the evacuation of the Zionist settlers, just as the Zionist pioneers settled in the cities and towns. Palestinian villages which they seized following the Nakba of 1948 after having emptied them of their original inhabitants. Only such a position could make the international recognition of the State of Palestine a step in the long-term struggle against Zionism, instead of being a step towards the liquidation of the Palestinian cause.

(Translation of my weekly column in the Arabic-language daily, Al-Quds al-Arabi, based in London. This article appeared on April 9 online and in the printed issue of April 10. You can freely reproduce it by indicating the source with the corresponding link).