Building Palestine on paper, destroying Gaza in reality

On the eve of the second anniversary of Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, a new wave of recognition for the State of Palestine is accelerating alongside the UN General Assembly. Western states—longstanding allies and enablers of Israel’s actions in Gaza—are now, in domino fashion, recognizing Palestine under the guise of humanitarianism.

Among the latest countries to join the 147 UN member states that already recognize Palestine are Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Malta, and possibly New Zealand and Liechtenstein. More announcements are expected at a special UN conference.

Recognition of Palestine is expected to dominate proceedings at the UN General Assembly starting September 23, 2025.

Recognition as a bid to restore lost credibility

Western states—fuel suppliers to Israel’s war machine in Gaza—are now competing to recognize Palestine, though their new stance stands in stark contrast to their two years of complicity in genocide. Canada, the UK, and Australia have already recognized Palestine, with France and Portugal expected to follow.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared on September 15 that there will never be a Palestinian state.

Though the Western declarations grabbed headlines, they remain largely symbolic and insufficient to erase the West’s complicity in the mass killing and displacement of Palestinians. On the very day that Canada, Australia, and the UK recognized Palestine, at least 55 Palestinians were killed in Gaza with Western-supplied weapons.

For two years, Western countries shielded Israel diplomatically, politically, and militarily while atrocities in Gaza—including starvation and mass displacement—escalated. With public outrage spilling onto the streets across the West, governments are now scrambling to distance themselves from direct complicity.

Meanwhile, international pressure on Israel to halt the war is mounting, with boycott campaigns expanding globally. Analysts stress that these symbolic recognitions will not end what both Israeli and international experts, as well as human rights groups, have described as genocide.

Western leaders, they argue, are bowing to domestic and international pressure with symbolic gestures, while avoiding meaningful steps to resolve the crisis.

A Palestinian Public Diplomacy Institute official in Ramallah said: “Western states embrace symbolic moves, while Palestinians have neither justice nor a state—only a widening gap between lived reality and international rhetoric.”

Columnist Owen Jones wrote in The Guardian: “Every measure against Israel has been performative, designed to blunt public demands for real action.”

Haaretz columnist Gideon Levy argued: “Recognition is a false substitute for sanctions and punitive measures that should be imposed on a state committing genocide. Recognition is an empty slogan—it will not stop the killing.”

History of recognition efforts

The Palestinian struggle for statehood dates back at least to 1967. In 1988, a year after the first Intifada, the State of Palestine was declared with Jerusalem as its capital. Algeria recognized it immediately, and within a week, 40 other countries followed.

By 2010–2011, much of Central and South America had recognized Palestine. In 2011, UNESCO granted Palestine full membership, and in 2012, the UN General Assembly granted it “non-member observer state” status, paving the way for Palestine to join the International Criminal Court in 2015.

Western recognition came much later, beginning in 2014 when Sweden became the first Western European state to recognize Palestine. In 2024, Spain, Norway, Slovenia, and Ireland followed suit.

So far, 149 of the UN’s 193 member states recognize Palestine. None of these steps have brought tangible results.

The U.S.: Principal opponent

The United States, Israel’s closest ally, remains opposed. Washington vetoed six Gaza ceasefire resolutions at the UN Security Council and even denied visas to Palestinian officials, preventing them from speaking at the UN General Assembly in New York. A UN vote eventually allowed Palestinian officials to address the assembly via video link (145 in favor, 5 opposed).

This denial of visas was widely condemned as a violation of longstanding U.S.-UN agreements guaranteeing diplomatic access.

What lies ahead?

Most analysts expect that the 2025 wave of recognition will, like earlier ones, amount to little. Western governments appear to be making noise for domestic and international optics—beating the drum of hollow “human rights” rhetoric—rather than taking real action.

This symbolic move will neither ease the suffering of Palestinians nor erase the West’s record of complicity in Israeli crimes. Instead of hiding behind symbolism, Western states must assume responsibility for enabling one of today’s worst humanitarian crises, and take binding, practical steps.

What Palestinians urgently need is an end to the genocidal war in Gaza, a halt to settlement expansion in the West Bank, and the facilitation of humanitarian aid. Yet, while talking of recognition, Western states continue to ship weapons to Israel and do nothing to stop the bloodshed.