U.S. and Western Recognition of a Palestinian State Would Ultimately Make Israel Safer
Jaded by failed peace talks and content with a relatively static status quo, Israel had been in no rush to finish eating the cake it was also having. That is, until Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attack savagely transcended (and Israeli bombardment cemented) the “Palestinian cause” from a patronizing talking point to a global crisis and unresolved injustice.
Perhaps the single universal point of agreement about what must come is that there can be no return to what was. Gazans, of course, quite literally can’t go back to what was—as the enclave lies largely in ruins. And beyond that starting point, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been largely relegated to an intransigent spectator as international consensus crystallizes around the idea and imperative of recognizing the State of Palestine.
Unilateral recognition of the State of Palestine—a radical action in a pre-Oct. 7 world—is a necessary and just measure to preserve the possibility of a two-state solution precisely at a time when the bleakest chapter in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has seemingly delivered a death knell to the prospect of peace between the two peoples.