The recognition of Palestinian statehood – progress or performance?

157 of 193 UN members now recognise the state of Palestine, including 10 western countries that formally recognised Palestine in a coordinated campaign. These countries include the UK, France, Australia, Canada, Portugal, and others.  

This historic shift sees close US allies breaking ranks, and while official statehood gives Palestine a new diplomatic weight, trade ties, influence, and strengthens its role in global institutions like the ICC, the recognition does little to halt the occupation, and the bombardment and settlement expansion cannot cease without further action, such as sanctions or arms embargoes.  

On the same day as recognition was announced, at least 55 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza

Shortly before the announcement by Canada, the UK, and Australia, a spokesperson for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Prime Minister had called the act “absurd and simply a reward for terrorism”. At an event in occupied East Jerusalem on September 15, Netanyahu promised his supporters that there “will be no Palestinian state”. 
 
On the same day as recognition was announced, at least 55 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza on Sunday. At least 37 of them were killed in Gaza City. 
 
Analysts have expressed scepticism that recognition might improve the material conditions of Palestinians currently suffering under Israeli aggression. Since the war on Gaza began in October 2023, over 67,000 have been killed and nearly 170,000 wounded; yet many experts estimate these figures to be significantly higher.  
 
Israel has occupied Palestinian territory since 1967, despite such an act being illegal under international law. The Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinians in the 1990s were intended to start the process leading to the formation of a Palestinian state with the creation of the Palestinian Authority (PA). Yet, Palestine is still not an official member of the UN, and Israel is only increasing its aggression in seizing Palestinian land. 

Israel, with the absolute backing of the United States, has shown little regard for international law

It seems the two-state solution effectively died in 1967, and due to the lack of enforcement of international law, recognition alone is unlikely to change realities on the ground. Israel, with the absolute backing of the United States, has shown little regard for international law right from the first ejection of 750,000 Palestinians in 1948 all the way to the present day. 
 
This renewed drive for recognition has come as Western governments face mounting pressure for their alleged complicity in genocide, with tensions between the government and protesters at an all-time high. However, many have argued that by signalling a move towards Palestinian solidarity and opposition to Israel, Western states have instead chosen to acknowledge Palestine in the hope that recognition can distract and detract from their own domestic pressures. 
 
For many, it seems that nothing has changed, but from the symbolic recognition of Palestinian statehood and lack of substantive action, it is clear that the announcement recognising Palestine was a slow reaction to a growing liberal disaffection, and these steps should be seen as a low-cost way to placate internal pressures. 

This pattern of public condemnation of Israel, whilst still maintaining key ties of trade and defence is nothing new

The UK gives intelligence to Israel with more surveillance flights over Gaza during the genocide than any other country. It facilitates weapons transfers to Israel via its Cyprus air bases and trains IDF soldiers. Canada exchanges military components and technology with Israel despite its arms embargo. France delivered millions of weapons to Israel during the genocide, worth more than $10 million. It provided diplomatic and economic support, such as exporting more than €425 million in goods to Israel last year.  
 
This pattern of public condemnation of Israel, whilst still maintaining key ties of trade and defence is nothing new. When Spain, Norway, and Ireland recognised Palestine last year, the announcements made headlines, but meaningful action lagged far behind. The recognitions were performative at best, and it took over a year for Norway and Spain to finally sanction Israel, actions that are far from the total trade embargo needed to stop the genocide. Ireland is still Israel’s second biggest trading partner. 
 
According to analysts, Israel’s attack on Gaza is not expected to subside after the coordinated recognition by Western countries. Mohamad Elmasry, a professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, told Al Jazeera he too believes the move is mainly performative: “I think they’re under increasing pressure from the international community and also from their local populations to do something,” he said. “This is, I think, their way of doing something or saying that they did something without actually taking substantive action.” 
 
There is no independent, sovereign Palestinian state due to Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land. “Recognition matters in this case because close US allies have so far reserved it until the day after a negotiated agreement,” Rida Abu Rass, a Palestinian political scientist, told Al Jazeera. He continued: “It matters because these countries broke ranks. In terms of its impact, Israel finds itself further isolated, and I think that’s meaningful.”  

While the recognition isolates Israel diplomatically and strains ties, without further action, the impact is negligible

Yet this still seems a merely symbolic step: recognising Palestine isn’t enough, some argue you need to go as far as ‘unrecognising’ Israel. The state of Palestine exists in international law as limited to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. This excludes the vast majority of historic Palestine. The state of Palestine also lacks any viable form of government. Currently represented diplomatically by the PA, which many deem to be a corrupt, unelected Western-backed body that quells armed resistance, with its abolition being demanded by the majority of Palestinians. 
 
Much of the world already recognises the Palestinian state. The recent additions mean that only the United States, a handful of European and Baltic states, South Korea, Japan, and a few other states do not recognise Palestine. Palestine is not a UN member (because of the US veto) but has non-member observer status, like Vatican City, and this recognition brings no new UN privileges, nor does it enable Palestine to become a member of new intergovernmental institutions – not without US support. Yet, while the recognition isolates Israel diplomatically and strains ties, without further action, the impact is negligible.   
 
There seems little point in the West’s recognising Palestine if Israel is conducting a genocide with their backing. For progress to be made in ending the genocide, tangible steps must be taken, with activists calling for a range of potential repercussions, such as: diplomatic ties with Israel being cut, a total arms and trade embargo being put into place, a halt to all military and intelligence cooperation, Israeli military and regime bodies and figures being sanctioned, suspected criminals being arrested and prosecuted, and for Israel to be suspended from cultural and sporting events such as Eurovision and FIFA. This does not seem an exhaustive list, and there are plenty more concrete actions that governments could have taken over the past year to end the genocide, yet instead, for the most part, they have opted for low-cost gestures, empty rhetoric, or even outright complicity. 
 
Recognition of Palestine, while symbolically significant, cannot substitute for the urgent measures required to stop what the UN has acknowledged to be Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Gaza. Without sanctions, embargoes, and real accountability, recognition risks becoming a hollow act that allows governments to posture as supportive of Palestinian rights while continuing to enable Israel’s ongoing crimes.