Keir Stager has announced that the United Kingdom will also recognize the state of Palestine in September. The British prime minister said that the move will take place if Israel will not accept a ceased, if it does not give up the plans to annex the West Bank and if there is no credible peace process towards the two -states solution, all conditions that it is practically impossible that the far -right government of Benjamin Netanyahu will be willing to accept.
The France and the European front effect
The move comes after the decision to recognize Palestine by Paris, announced by President Emmanuel Macron, who makes France the first country of the G7 to do so. Of the 193 Member States of the United Nations, 147 already recognize Palestine, including Russia and China, and only in the last year Ireland, Norway and Spain have been added to Europe, followed by Slovenia, while Italy continues to refuse to do so.
State of Palestine, how many and which countries to the world recognize it (and why Italy still does not do it)
The move of France and the United Kingdom would mean that as many as four of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council will have recognized the right of the Palestinians in September to constitute in a state, leaving only the United States not to want to do it.
Paris and London’s decision is part of a political, diplomatic and legal thrust to reach a two-states solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, despite the resistance of the Government of Israel. But what does it mean and what does recognition imply?
What is a state
The criteria for the establishment of a state have been defined by the Montevideo Convention of 1933, which is considered one of the fundamental basis of international law for the legal definition of state. These criteria essentially include four elements: a permanent population, defined territorial borders, a government and the ability to conduct international affairs.
Recognition is an official legitimacy that an aspiring state satisfies these conditions and can take place even if one of the elements is still under discussion, including territorial boundaries in the case of Palestine.
The two -states solution
A two -states solution would see the creation of an independent Palestinian state next to the current state of Israel, giving both peoples its own territory. According to countless resolutions of the UN, Palestine should arise in occupied and Gaza, with capital in Jerusalem Est, remaining the territories occupied by Tel Aviv by the Six Days of 1967 to the Palestinians.
Recently Knesset, Israel’s Parliament, has voted for a large majority for a non -binding resolution asking for the annexation of the West Bank. But in fact Israel is already annexed to the Region, building more and more settlements in the Palestinian territory in which about 600 thousand settlers now live.
Now the United Kingdom, who has so far resisted this move, wants to recognize Palestine to try to prevent the situation from having more. And the recognition of London will have an important value, first of all from a symbolic point of view. It was precisely the United Kingdom in fact to give the first legal bases for the birth of Israel when, with the Balfour declaration of 1917, the British government declared itself in favor of creating a “Jewish national hearth” in Palestine.
The Palestinian government knot
As for the government of Palestine, the recognized government body is currently the Palestinian National Authority that administers the parts of the West Bank in which there are no illegal Israeli settlements, which are under the direct control of Tel Aviv. His creation was authorized by the organization for the liberation of Palestine, which represents the Palestinians internationally.
Although there are limits to what the authority can do, given that Gaza has so far been under the control of Hamas (who eliminated his presence as soon as Israel dismantled the colonies in 2005), the foreign recognition of a Palestinian state would entail the establishment of a direct diplomatic contact between the authority and the nation that recognizes it. And he would give new strength to his claims with international support.
Legal implications of the recognition
This is because the recognition of Palestine also has a legal value that provides a basis for a complete revision of bilateral relations with Israel, as a government that recognizes Palestine must review the agreements with Tel Aviv to ensure that for example that it does not violate its obligations towards the Palestinian state.
And therefore that it does not violate its political and territorial integrity, as well as economic, cultural, social and civil relationships. In short, the violations of the rights of the Palestinians, starting with the occupation of their territories, would no longer be only an ethical question for the government that has implemented recognition, but also a lawyer, thus making the pressure to act stronger and binding.
