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Wars are waged with the goal of attaining a political resolution. Israel’s wars are an exception. The war on Gaza following the Oct. 7, 2023, cross-border attack by Hamas has focused on the near-impossible goal of annihilating an idea. Palestinian resistance takes different forms and sometimes fails to apply the laws of war. But international law clearly affirms that occupiers have no right to self-defense, while the occupied people have a right to resist illegal occupations, as repeatedly stated by tireless Italian lawyer and UN Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese.
Israel’s war on Palestinians, which has also included the West Bank and assassinations of Palestinian leaders in Iran and Lebanon, has exposed the rejection of the leaders of the state of Israel from articulating a political solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Stemming from the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion of July, the UN General Assembly in September voted overwhelmingly to adopt a resolution that demands Israel “brings to an end without delay its unlawful presence” in the Occupied Territories.
This decades-long occupation of Palestinian lands has made the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza subservient and dependent on the Israeli occupiers. Therefore, the first order of business is to begin decoupling from the occupation to allow Palestinians to live in a truly independent and contiguous state. Consecutive US officials have supported the two-state solution but there has been no effort to ensure the end of this illegal Israeli occupation.
The international community must press Israel, as the International Court of Justice has recommended, to freeze the building of new illegal settlements that have been proven to violate international law, specifically the Fourth Geneva Convention.
The first priority is to begin decoupling from the occupation to allow Palestinians to live in a truly independent and contiguous state
Daoud Kuttab
The Israeli occupation’s stranglehold over the Palestinian economy is manifested in military orders, restricted economic accords with the Palestine Liberation Organization and actual practices on the ground that have resulted in a deformed Palestinian economy.
If Palestinians take control of their resources and the barriers to internal and external trade are removed, the Palestinian economy will by at least 35 percent (excluding income from oil and gas) and government revenues would be enough to sustain the Palestinian economy without foreign aid.
At present, Israel militarily controls the Occupied Territories and this must stop. A multinational force must guard the borders. Palestinians should be able to travel to Jordan and back using their own vehicles. Imports and exports from and to Palestine must be ensured without the control of Israel, except for security checks, which must be restricted only to international standards of security.
The ball is now in the international community’s court. The International Court of Justice has called on the UNGA and the UN Security Council to ensure Israeli compliance. Recognizing and supporting an independent state at the UNSC can go a long way in helping Palestine decouple from its occupiers and begin the process of implementing its inalienable right of self-determination, leading to an independent and democratic state alongside a safe and secure state of Israel, in fulfillment of the second half of the preamble of UNSC Resolution 242, which calls for “the need to work for a just and lasting peace in the Middle East.”
If Europe genuinely wants to drive progress toward peace, it must show courage and conviction. That means recognizing the state of Palestine along the pre-1967 borders, thereby helping to balance the scales in negotiations and clarifying the framework for peace.
The Palestinian president has been resolute and consistent in rejecting all forms of violence against Israelis, but his hands have been tied by successive hawkish right-wing Israeli governments that have literally been stealing money collected on behalf of Palestinians because they dare to care for their prisoners and the families of those who died in fighting for a free Palestine.
If Europe genuinely wants to drive progress toward peace, it must recognize the state of Palestine along the pre-1967 borders
Daoud Kuttab
Once the end goal of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel is clear, the UN has many mechanisms to help move the peace process along, including the defunct but never dissolved 1947 UN Special Commission on Palestine.
The US can make a major contribution to peace by living up to its own words regarding the two-state solution and agreeing not to stand against the arc of history. Palestinians have a right to self-determination and they have decided, along with the entire world, including the current government in Israel, that such a right come to fruition through two states — Palestine and Israel. The US was the first country to recognize Israel back in 1948 and it is high time that the US administration listened to the calls of Palestinians yearning to be free and recognized the other half of the two-state solution that is repeated ad nauseam by American officials.
There is so much that needs to be done before a truly independent and democratic Palestinian state is realized. A total revamp of the Palestinian political process and personnel is needed, including the absolute necessity to involve Palestinians in the diaspora, especially those in the Levant and the Gulf. Such a process of true democratization, which must be independent with impartial international support, is needed for Palestinian unity of purpose and direction. This will also rebuff the unfair Israeli and Zionist excuse for denying Palestinians their inalienable right of self-determination and statehood. The road to statehood will require some hard decisions.
Ever since the Balfour Declaration in 1917, foreign powers have been involved and have taken sides, largely against the Palestinian people. The time for a solution is now. Recognizing Palestine on the June 4, 1967, borders and allowing the genuine representatives of the state of Palestine to negotiate all outstanding issues with the Israelis’ representatives is the way out of this century-old war. It all starts with the need for the recognition of the state of Palestine now.
- Daoud Kuttab is an award-winning Palestinian journalist and former Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton University. X: @daoudkuttab
This article is an excerpt from the author’s latest : “State of Palestine NOW: Practical and logical arguments for the best way to bring peace to the Middle East.”