The Palestine statehood: Between recognition and betrayal

The unresolved Palestine statehood question is back at the forefront of world politics, driving headlines and crucial international diplomacy. Calls for an independent Palestinian state have gained new strength as the war in Gaza continues and the quest for a two-State solution grows urgent. Nearly two years after the first bombs fell in October 2023, Israel’s assault on Gaza City grinds on, threatening a people’s right to live and challenging international law.

Against this backdrop, the latest United Nations General Assembly has seen a surge of support for Palestinian statehood. France, the United Kingdom, Canada, Portugal, and Australia have joined more than 140 other nations, bringing total recognition to 157—about 81 percent of UN members. The New York Declaration urges a ceasefire, release of hostages, Palestinian elections after the conflict, and rejects both Hamas rule and illegal Israeli settlements.

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U.S. President Donald Trump used his UNGA speech to oppose these recognitions. He called them a “reward” for Hamas after the October 7, 2023 attacks and warned they would fuel violence and delay hostage releases. He criticised the UN for inaction but offered no detailed peace plan. His stance contrasts with UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who insists Palestinian statehood is a right and calls for an immediate ceasefire and unrestricted humanitarian aid.

A City Under Fire

In less than two years, Gaza City, once home to 2.2 million people, has become a wasteland of smoke and rubble. Tanks move through its narrow streets while jets strike apartment towers, schools, and hospitals. Israeli military reports say more than 150 locations marked as militant targets were hit in just 48 hours, claiming thousands of Hamas fighters hide among civilians. But the human toll tells a different story. Since October 2023, over 65,000 Palestinians have been killed, around 165,000 wounded, and thousands more remain buried under collapsed buildings. Each morning brings new lists of the dead—whole families crushed in their homes,children pulled from debris.

The latest assault has forced more than 220,000 people to flee Gaza City within days. Many walk south along the crowded Al Rashid Road as bombs fall nearby. A mother told UNICEF she walked six hours with five children, two of them barefoot. In Al-Mawasi, called a safe zone, tents stretch to the horizon. Water is scarce and food nearly gone. Famine, already confirmed in the north, is spreading south. UNICEF warns that about 500,000 children face extreme danger, with more than 25,000 needing urgent treatment for life-threatening malnutrition. Even the search for water is deadly: two weeks ago, an Israeli strike on Al-Mawasi killed eight children waiting in line.

Law on Paper, Horror in Practice

International humanitarian law is explicit. The Geneva Conventions forbid attacks on civilians, forced displacement, and the use of hunger as a weapon. They require that aid reach those in need and that hospitals, schools, and shelters be protected. In Gaza, these obligations are treated as optional !

Human rights groups, UN agencies, and legal experts say Israel’s actions  violate these rules and amount to war crimes or crimes against humanity. They cite deliberate strikes on civilian areas, disproportionate bombardment, the use of siege and starvation, and the blocking of aid. The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Israeli leaders, and the International Court of Justice warns that the killings and deprivation could amount to genocide. The UN Human Rights Council has raised these concerns.

However, the system of enforcement is weak. International courts and tribunals depend on states to carry out arrests and uphold rulings. Powerful allies shield Israel from real penalties. UN Security Council resolutions are blocked or watered down, and arrest warrants mean little when those named travel freely to friendly capitals. The law is written and recognised, but in Gaza it stands without protection.

Palestine statehood: The West’s Double Standards

Western nations often present themselves as champions of global norms and human rights. But their actions tell another story. The United States continues to send weapons and give diplomatic cover while expressing “concern” for civilians. European leaders who once backed Israel’s “right to defend itself” now urge restraint, but only after tens of thousands have died.

A few governments—Norway, Spain, Ireland, and later UK, France, Canada, Australia, and others—have recognised or pledged to recognise a Palestinian state. These moves carry symbolic weight but have not slowed the bombing or eased the siege. The European Commission talks about trade sanctions and measures against Israeli officials, but arms sales and business ties remain.

This is the crux of the hypocrisy. When allies commit abuses, outrage turns into vague diplomacy and legal demands become endless debate. The same governments that insist on strict international law in Ukraine suddenly discover “complexity” in Gaza. That complexity serves as an excuse to delay and to avoid action.

Silence and Self-Interest in the Arab World

Arab states show similar caution. Qatar hosts Hamas’s political office and often mediates, but its influence has limits. When Israel struck Doha, killing six people—including a Qatari citizen—while Hamas officials met on a ceasefire plan, Arab leaders voiced outrage but took no decisive steps. The attack revealed that no place is off-limits and threatened one of the few remaining channels for negotiation.

The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, signatories of the 2020 Abraham Accords with Israel, face public anger still keep ties mostly intact. Saudi Arabia says it will recognise Israel only if there is a “credible and irreversible” path to a Palestinian state, but it avoids the economic or diplomatic pressure that might force change. The region’s wealth and leverage could matter, yet caution prevails. Oil-rich states will not risk an embargo like in 1973, leaving their solidarity mostly in speeches.

A United Nations Without Power

Meanwhile the United Nations, designed to prevent exactly this kind of catastrophe, stands helpless. Its agencies count the dead, confirm famine, and warn of genocide. But the Security Council is paralysed by vetoes, and the General Assembly can only pass symbolic resolutions. While the latest UN General Assembly meeting might lead to renewed demands for a ceasefire or penalties, such pronouncements often lack enforceable power. Year after year, the UN speaks, but nothing changes.

This is more than a procedural failure. When the world’s highest forum cannot stop mass killing or even guarantee the delivery of food and medicine, it exposes the gap between noble ideals and political reality. The UN becomes a witness rather than a guardian, and its words lose meaning.

Shared Responsibility, Global Failure

Israel pounds homes, hospitals, and schools in the name of ‘self-defence,’ reducing civilian life to rubble. Hamas chose armed attacks and hides among civilians, inviting deadly retaliation. Regional powers issue statements but avoid the cost of sheltering refugees or forcing peace. Global powers treat Gaza as a pawn in larger rivalries, offering either full backing or cold indifference. Civil society marches and mourns but rarely turns protest into the political and economic pressure that could compel action. Each actor finds reasons to wait—alliances to protect, markets to steady, voters to reassure, and the killing goes on.

This exposes a basic contradiction. Major nations speak of universal human rights, but let alliances decide when those rights count. It is easier to label Gaza “complex” than to call it unjust, because clear words would demand hard choices -stopping arms sales, imposing sanctions, or breaking with powerful friends. The ruins of Gaza reveal how thin moral claims have become. Leaders grieve for dead children but will not risk comfort or power to save the living.

What Must Change

Ending this tragedy demands more than sympathy. Palestinian suffering must be recognised without conditions. Accountability has to reach every side, even those who use their own victimhood to excuse violence. International law must be applied equally, or it remains only a mask for power. Protest must become real pressure—cutting arms sales, restricting diplomatic ties, and halting the flow of money and technology that fuels war.

The idea of sovereignty itself needs rethinking. If defending a state always outweighs the value of human life, Gaza will not be the last place where children die while the world debates. Nations must accept that human rights are a duty, even when allies are the offenders.

The UN General Assembly offers a narrow chance. Member states can call for an arms embargo, secure greater humanitarian access, and set a binding timetable for talks. These steps will face fierce resistance, but each delay only deepens the crime.

Gaza as a Mirror

Gaza is more than a battlefield; it is a mirror held to the world. Its shattered streets expose the emptiness of global claims to justice and the structural weakness of the international order. If nations cannot stop the destruction of a small, crowded strip of land—cannot feed starving children, protect hospitals, or restrain an ally that breaks the very laws they wrote—then the idea of a just world system is a lie.

Palestine poet Mahmoud Darwish’s haunting question, “Where should the birds fly after the last sky?” reverberates across the ruins. It speaks not only for Palestinians but for everyone. Unless governments, institutions, and ordinary people face Gaza’s reality with courage and action, the tragedy will continue. And the claim that humanity has moved toward justice will remain a hollow promise, buried with the dead beneath the rubble.