As Western nations recognize Palestinian statehood, Palestinians doubt its impact

DEIR AL-BALAH (AP) — Palestinians across the Gaza Strip and the Israeli-occupied West Bank welcomed news that a flurry of Western countries have recognized a Palestinian state, while expressing doubt the move will improve their dire circumstances.

On Monday, France, Andorra, Belgium, Luxembourg, Malta, and Monaco announced or confirmed their recognition of a Palestinian state at the start of a high-profile meeting at the United Nations aimed at galvanizing support for a two-state solution to the Mideast conflict. Their announcements came a day after the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Portugal did the same. More nations are expected to follow, in defiance of Israel and the United States.

The recognitions “have strengthened the Palestinian legitimacy by recognizing the rights of the Palestinian people,” said Saeed Abu Elaish, a medic from the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza who has lost more than two dozen family members, including his wife and their two daughters.

“It’s also a call to stop the genocide and massacres in Gaza, as well as to stop the settlers’ encroachment on the West Bank,” he told The Associated Press.

Others downplayed the impact of the recognitions.

Huda Masawabi called them “worthless” as she joined a long line of fellow displaced people and overstuffed trucks heading south from Gaza City Sunday.

“We just hope to God that someone outside would acknowledge us or even deal with us as mere human beings,” she said.

The recent shift among nations is unlikely to have much if any short-term impact on the ground, where Israel is waging a major offensive in famine-stricken Gaza City and expanding settlements in the West Bank.

Longer-term, the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem — territories seized by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war — is widely seen internationally as the only way to resolve the conflict, which began more than a century before Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack.

In Gaza, Palestinians hope statehood recognition is followed by action

Israel’s government was opposed to Palestinian statehood even before the outbreak of the war in Gaza, and now says it would reward Hamas. Israelis have long feared that groups like Hamas — which does not accept Israel’s existence — would use an independent state to attack it. Many also view the West Bank as the biblical and historical heartland of the Jewish people.

While Palestinians in Gaza told the AP that they hoped statehood recognition might lead to eventual independence, it comes as cold comfort in the midst of Israel’s devastating 23-month war.

“What matters to us is that the war stops,” Adeeb Abu Khalid, a displaced Palestinian from Gaza City, said as he walked in a Deir al-Balah market Tuesday. “Today we are living in a famine. People are in misery.”

The war has left the territory in ruins, displaced nearly all Palestinians, and killed at least 65,000 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. It doesn’t say how many were civilians or combatants, but says women and children make up around half.

In that context, demonstrations of support from abroad do provide a measure of solace to some, like Naser Asaliya, a displaced Palestinian from Gaza City, who are eager for any ray of hope.

“It will, God willing, have a positive impact on us, no matter the circumstances,” he said. “We are a stricken people, and we hope for anything that makes us happy, no matter how simple, anything that supports us, strengthens our resolve in light of this unjust blockade.”

Around three-fourths of the 193-member United Nations now recognize a Palestinian state, but major Western nations had until recently declined to, saying one could only come about through negotiations with Israel.

Murad Banat, a Palestinian man displaced from Gaza’s central Bureij camp, said the most recent recognitions are “just talk.”

“Everyone is watching us like a play. Like a TV series, every day a TV series,” he said as children strode between tents in a packed displacement camp.

West Bank Palestinians see statehood recognition as conflicting with reality

Since the war began, Israeli settlers have expanded their hold over vast swaths of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, pushing the prospect of a contiguous Palestinian state out of reach.

The West Bank is the hoped-for heartland of a future Palestinian state. Palestinians say now-common Israeli military raids on Palestinian cities and towns ramped up settler violence, and state-backed settlement expansion has eaten away at their land, pushing the practical possibility of a contiguous Palestinian state from reach.

Nur al-Din Mansour, from Jenin, is one of tens of thousands of West Bank Palestinians displaced from their homes since Israel launched a major operation across four northern camps early this year. He said recognition was a “step in the right direction.”

”But what we want,” he added. “is not just a symbolic or nominal state — we want a fully sovereign state that preserves its borders. We demand a Palestinian state based on the borders of June 5, 1967.”

Mohammad Hammad, also displaced from Jenin Camp, said, ”All of this recognition, in the end, is meaningless. You’re talking nonsense about recognition while we’re still under occupation.”

“In the end, everything that’s happening is just ink on paper.”