'Recognition diplomacy' can't break the Palestine deadlock

Despite the latest efforts at the United Nations, three parties — Israel, the US and the Palestinians — ultimately hold the key to peace.

- Joseph Chinyong Liow

Supporters of Palestine protesting against the visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the United Nations in New York on Sept 26. Mr Netanyahu, in his UN speech, vowed to block a Palestinian state and to "finish the job against" Hamas for its Oct 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

(PHOTO: EPA)

The chorus of international support for Palestine grows louder, with France, Britain and Canada recently joining more than 140 other countries at the United Nations in officially recognising the state of Palestine.

Yet for all the latest efforts to pressure Israel to stop its military offensive in Gaza and to keep alive the hope for a two-state solution, there are limits to what “recognition diplomacy” can achieve.

The harsh reality is, prospects for peaceful resolution are less likely to be advanced by recognition than by the actions of three protagonists in this agonising script: Israel, the US and the Palestinians.

Herein lies the rub: In all three cases, domestic forces have conspired to prevent the reconsideration of strategies, reconfiguration of policies and reassessment of roles necessary to change the realities on the ground in Palestine.

In the case of Israel, diplomatic pressure is having the reverse effect of hardening the resolve of the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In an angry address at the UN General Assembly last week, Mr Netanyahu vowed to block a Palestinian state and to “finish the job against” Hamas for its Oct 7, 2023, attack on Israel. Since then, Israel's military response has left much of Gaza in ruins and tens of thousands dead.

“Israel will not allow you to shove a terrorist state down our throats,” Mr Netanyahu said, in his pushback at the UN against the recent flurry of diplomatic moves. “We will not commit national suicide because you don’t have the guts to face down the hostile media and anti-Semitic mobs demanding Israel’s blood.”