Many supporters of Israel are freaking out after French President Emmanuel Macron announced that France will recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations Assembly in September.
There’s no need to freak out.
Like human rights lawyer Arsen Ostrovsky says, “You can have 100 countries saying the earth is flat and that won’t make it true.”
Macron knows he made an empty gesture. He’s just following the lazy approach of activists and politicians in the social media era— don’t do anything real, just perform and act like you care. Show off your climate change T-shirt, yell “free Palestine” at a movie theater, argue with someone on X, say you’ll recognize something that’s not likely to happen —whatever requires minimal exertion.
The creation of a Palestinian state, as Macron well knows, would require enormous exertion; it has already consumed decades of fruitless diplomatic attention from world leaders. If anything, the sides have hardened over the years.
Exertion aside, there’s another reason why people opposed to a Palestinian state should not freak out. The last thing Palestinian leaders want is a Palestinian state.
Why would they remove the albatross around the neck of the Zionist enemy they despise?
Palestinian leaders are not stupid. They know that as long as they don’t have a state and the “occupation” continues, they can fulfill their calling to malign and demonize the Jewish state, attack it in international criminal courts and continue to fuel the global BDS campaign against Israel.
What’s not to like?
As long as Palestinians maintain their status as the world’s preeminent victims, their leaders can continue to luxuriate in their villas and fly on private jets to “emergency meetings” in the world’s capitals, where they are received with the deference shown to noble and oppressed victims.
Why would they throw all that away for the drudgery of building a state and having committee meetings on garbage collection?
Why would they throw away the luxury of blaming all their ills on their Jewish neighbors?
It’s not a coincidence that Palestinians have rejected every Israeli peace offer. During these failed years of high-profile peace processing, people never understood why Palestinians not only rejected Israeli offers but never made any counteroffers. Why were they so recalcitrant to get their own state?
Here’s yet another reason that’s always troubled me: Because Palestinian leaders see a Palestinian state as being good for Israel, and anything that’s good for Israel is out of the question.
After all, they’ve been hearing for years from Jewish peace activists that the only way for Israel to secure its future as a Jewish democracy would be to live next to a Palestinian state. That would ensure a solid Jewish majority in Israel, so Israel wouldn’t have to choose between being Jewish or being democratic. That would secure the future of Zionism.
So, why would the biggest haters of Zionism want to save Zionism?
It’s hard for many people to see a Palestinian state through that lens. Especially in recent years with the rise in terrorism, most Israelis today see a Palestinian state as an existential threat, and for good reason. What’s harder to see is that for Palestinian leaders, a two-state solution is a two-state nightmare that would eliminate their lucrative victim status while saving Zionism in the process.
In other words, Palestinian leaders don’t have a problem with the status quo: a Jewish state that is the most condemned nation on earth.
In short, maybe that’s the real tragedy of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict– both sides have their own powerful reasons not to make a deal. Empty announcements about recognition only masks these reasons and perpetuate the delusions that the sides can come to an agreement.
If Netanyahu was a poker shark, he’d call Macron’s bluff and announce that Israel also recognizes a Palestinian state, one that is democratic and demilitarized, gives equal rights to its Jewish residents, relinquishes the “right of return” of millions of Palestinian “refugees”, defunds UNRWA and recognizes a Jewish sovereign presence.
The announcement, which could never happen under the current coalition, would at least make Macron and the Palestinians freak out.
