International recognition of the Palestinian state

The State of Palestine is on the road to becoming a reality, whether Israel likes it or not.

The writing is on the wall for the Zionist entity. What has happened in the last few days has been an eye-opener for all those who routinely hum and haw when it comes to the issue of Palestinian independence and sovereignty.

The recent days have witnessed the State of Palestine getting not just enormous support but unreserved diplomatic recognition from several countries. The back-to-back recognitions reaffirm the world's faith in the Palestinian cause and its conviction about the urgency of a sovereign Palestinian state. The wave of recognitions has come at a time when Israel and the Palestinian Authority have been engaged fittingly in the so-called "negotiations” which have not and - anybody with average intelligence knows - will not lead to any fruitful results for the Palestinian people, regardless of the number of negotiators involved.

The adjectives that qualify the negotiations are more intriguing than amusing, starting from “direct” then “indirect” and currently “parallel” and the days to come will unveil even more adjectives for this political flummery. All such types of negotiations - though they have a ring of sophistication about them - would not succeed because it is crystal clear to all and sundry that the Israeli negotiators were and are not interested in any breakthrough.

When the negotiations are founded on sophistry rather than on good intentions or facts, what good can come of them? The fact is that the Israeli negotiators do not want the status quo changed and they don't care if their counterparts bang their heads against the wall in despair or desperation or approach human rights organizations or the UN Security Council, which is ironically controlled by the US (read the Israeli lobby in the US) irrespective of which party is in the White House.

There has always been a clear US meddling (hidden but overweening Israeli influence) in the decisions of such international organizations and institutions, a fact that is known to all Arab countries. But as long as there is no single, united Arab stance based on the ground realities, chaos and confusion will reign supreme over the legitimacy of the Palestinian state and the right of the Palestinians for a decent life, something which is already recognized by several countries worldwide.

It has become a common practice for the Arabs to denounce the Israeli atrocities in their meetings over and over again and such vicious back-to-back meetings go on and on ad nauseam without any effective or serious measures being taken. Lamentably, the Palestinian leadership does not get any real support from the Arab governments barring support from the Arab people who readily join the Palestinians in condemning the Israeli intransigence.

Last week, we saw the statements of the Palestinian leadership denouncing a huge budget of the Israeli government for the construction of settlements. This was at a time when the Palestinians were demanding a complete halt to settlements in the occupied territories, in particular Al-Quds, and the Israeli recognition of the right of the establishment of a Palestinian state on the basis of the 1967 borders.

Brazil and Argentina were the first countries to recognize the Palestinian state on the 1967 borders. Soon after, Venezuela, Cuba, Uruguay and Bolivia announced their decisions to recognize Palestine as an independent and sovereign sate based on the 1967 borders.

Ecuador said it would soon make a similar statement recognizing the Palestinian state. Norway, meanwhile, upgraded the Palestinian representative office in Oslo into a diplomatic mission as a first step to recognizing the Palestinian state.

All this triggered a flurry of reactions from several parts of the world. Small wonder, the Palestinian Authority wholeheartedly welcomed the decisions of these countries and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was quick to appreciate their decisions and thank them profusely.

No doubt, Washington would not like these developments. The wave of recognitions coming from the Latin American countries proves beyond doubt that an independent and sovereign Palestinian state is founded on justice and fairness. The recent statement of President Evo Morales of Bolivia stressing the sovereignty and independence of Palestine resonated through all the nations and stirred up the conscience of the people across the world.

The recognition of the Palestinian state by these countries sends out a message to the international institutions and organizations that it is time to take on board the woes and sufferings of the Palestinian people at the hands of the Israelis and take appropriate initiatives to get them back their just rights. But we Arabs, on our part, have to take a profound pledge that we will stop issuing the routine, empty condemnations during the future Arab meetings, but instead start taking effective and bold decisions. The recent wave of international recognitions is a wake-up call for the Arabs to stand up for the legitimate rights of the Palestinians unreservedly and play a more positive role.

We hope that the year 2011 will see the Arab people unite for the Palestinian cause much more strongly and positively than before and force the Israeli enemy to genuflect before the remarkable will power, determination and capabilities of the Palestinian people. To be sure, we will be able to defeat the nefarious designs of Israel if and only if we stand as one, united Arab nation and play a proactive role rather than cranking out worthless denunciation statements.