Soumaya Ghannoushi argues against the latest wave of Western declarations on recognising a Palestinian state, arguing they amount to diplomatic theatre rather than genuine support for Palestinian rights.
France’s Emmanuel Macron and Britain’s Keir Starmer present symbolic gestures as breakthroughs – but what’s on offer is not a sovereign state, Ghannoushi says, but a shell under occupation: no borders, no army, no control over resources.
Amid Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza and the expansion of settlements in the West Bank, she continues, these declarations are framed as a distraction from real pressure on Israel – with recognition offered not as a right, but as a tool of leverage.
“A state that needs its oppressor’s permission to exist is not a state,” Ghannoushi writes. “It’s a diplomatic mirage sold over mass graves.”
She warns that every time Palestinians rise up, the “peace process” is revived – not to achieve justice, but to bury it.
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Produced by: Middle East Eye
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