This week, both Denmark and Britain upgraded the status of the delegation of their Palestinian representatives. Both European nations moved their delegations from the third-ranked “general delegation” up to “mission.” While this means very little on the ground, it is a sign of warming relations between parties. And that is not all. Denmark and Britain are joining a longer list of countries that have made similar moves in the past few months including the US, France, Spain, Portugal and Ireland.
And THAT is not all. Over the last several months, the Palestinians have been working the international community and bringing home huge rewards for their troubles. In the last weeks of 2010, Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay added their names to the growing list of nations that now recognize the state of Palestine. This list, of more than one hundred countries, includes Morocco, China, India, Poland, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt and Russia.
The PLO declared statehood in Algeria in 1988. Twenty-three years have since passed and Israel and the Palestinians appear no closer to peace today. But Israel has a new problem. The Palestinians are gaining international recognition and are seeking a way to pull Israel’s power out from under her. And the Palestinians are not seeking a state that is bisected by bypass roads and settlements. Their version of a Palestinian state includes the Jordan Valley and full control of their borders. Ariel may still exist in their state, but presumably it will not be Jewish, rather Palestinian. Likewise, Ma’ale Adumim.
Brazil and Argentina did not formally recognize a Palestinian state that adheres to the realities on the ground. Their vision is one of 1967. While the 1967 borders might look nice on paper, anyone who has spent time in the region knows that to institute them would not just be difficult, but would border on impossible. There are a half-a-million Israeli-Jews living on the other side of the Green Line. It is going to be no easy feat to pick them up and move them, especially if huge swaths of them do not want to go.
Israel needs to be involved in the conversation of drawing future borders for a Palestinian state. The world is growing restless with the status quo. Currently the number of countries recognizing a Palestinian state is over 100. What happens when it surpasses 150? 190? What happens when every nation in the world, barring Israel, the US and potentially Micronesia, have said that not only is Palestine a state but that its borders are those of 1967?
Is it foolish to think that international recognition can be the impetus for Palestinian statehood? Well, it worked for Israel, didn’t it?
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