-Analysis-
PARIS — Is it necessary to recognize the state of Palestine?
The question may seem illusory: the state doesn’t exist, and conflict over its birth is one of the key issues driving the current crisis. And yet, 139 states in the world already recognize the fictitious state of Palestine, or state-in-the-making, if you’re optimistic. Among them, very few members of the European Union: Sweden is the only to have done as an EU member; the eight others (including Bulgaria, Poland, Romania) had recognized Palestine before joining Union.
The question is on the table again as the war in Gaza has sent Europe back into its eternal infighting and impotence.
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Spain relaunched the debate at the beginning of April by announcing that it would unilaterally recognize the state of Palestine before July. The socialist government of Pedro Sanchez has affirmed itself as one of the most critical of Israel's war on Gaza. This position follows a joint statement from the previous month, signed by Spain, Ireland, Malta and Slovenia, who said they were ready “in the interest of peace and security,” to recognize Palestine “when the time comes.” Madrid has decided: it will be in July, with or without the others.
Europe in disagreement
The EU is moving forward in disarray on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it’s an old reality that prevents it from exerting influence, even though it is Israel’s leading economic partner and the biggest donor to the Palestinian authority. But Germany, for historically evident reasons, is prevented from criticizing the Jewish state, whereas the others, like Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, have a pro-Israel or pro-Netanyahu slant.
The question is how, when, and in what framework.
The result is a Europe that nobody hears, that is less than the sum of its members. If they can reach an agreement on symbolic sanctions to counter violent settlers, and go further — and even then, only once the Americans do so — the “27” are certainly lacking audacity.
Only Josep Borrell, High Representative of EU Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, cuts through the disagreement with his strong words, but they too fall unheard in a void.
The question of state recognition at this stage, before an international accord, reopens the debate. French President Emmanuel Macron declared in February that it was “not taboo,” and that France was thinking about it. It’s no accident that this declaration, the only one to date, was made during Jordanian King Abdullah's visit to Paris, where he pushed Paris to make a greater commitment. The question is how, when, and in what framework.
The efficacy of recognition
Recognizing the state of Palestine would be a powerful way to express profound disagreement with Israeli strategy. It’s the goal of Spain and some other countries. The limit of this exercise is that it wouldn’t change anything: not the Palestinian reality without legitimate statehood or political representation; nor the course of a war that Europe has no control over; not even preparation for the “aftermath,” largely carried out by Americans and Saudis, the EU being called upon to support their initiative when the time comes.
Shouldn't a gesture be made?
But in the face of the large-scale humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, in the face of the blindness of Israel’s current leaders, and in the absence of any credible, short-term political perspectives, shouldn’t a gesture be made to show commitment to an equitable solution?
The recognition of a Palestinian state called to live in peace and security alongside the state of Israel in its pre-1967 borders, can embody this minimal yet eternally worthwhile political gesture.