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Backing Palestinian Sovereignty Now Would Reward and Strengthen Hamas

(Jewish Chronicle-UK) Editorial - Before Oct. 7, few serious voices in Europe called for recognizing a Palestinian state. There was a quiet consensus that doing so would be reckless, given the division, corruption and radicalization of the current Palestinian leadership. Then, Hamas carried out the most gruesome mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust - and the response in some European capitals has been to reward it with exactly what they wanted, recognition. Spain, Ireland and Norway recognized Palestine a mere seven months after the massacres. French President Emmanuel Macron floated the idea last month. Some MPs urged the UK to follow suit. Recognizing a Palestinian state after Oct. 7 would be a moral and strategic blunder. It would strengthen Hamas, undermine moderate Palestinian voices, and send the grotesque message that the more brutal the violence, the more urgent the international support. It would betray every peace-minded Palestinian as well as every liberal value Europe claims to uphold. The call for recognition rests on a fiction that Palestinians are innocent victims without agency, perpetually denied a state by Israeli intransigence. History says otherwise. Palestinian leaders have rejected every serious offer of statehood since 1937. Each time, the answer was no, usually followed by violence. Is there another national movement that has been offered statehood - repeatedly - only to reject it every time? Palestinian leaders have consistently prioritized fighting the Jewish state over building their own. Yet after every rejection, it is Israel that is blamed. Oct. 7 obliterated any Israeli hope that a Palestinian state would bring peace.
2025-05-15 00:00:00
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