Rewarding Terrorism: Western Nations Absurdly Endorse State Of 'Palestine'

At the U.N. General Assembly on Sept. 12, a handful of prominent Western nations, desperate to show they still have global influence, joined the overwhelming support of a resolution recognizing the "State of Palestine." Their gesture is absurd, of course, since no such state exists. 

Indeed, for 78 years, the Palestinians have proven incapable of accepting, let alone creating a state of their own. Moreover, recognition of Palestine by Canada, the United Kingdom, France and others won't help the Palestinians in the least, nor will it have the desired effect of persuading Israel to cease its military campaign in Gaza intended to destroy Hamas.

If Western nations seriously wanted to help the Palestinians achieve self-determination, rather than issue empty declarations to mollify Muslim and leftist voters at home, they would address the objective obstacles to Palestinian statehood. They would start with Palestinians' obstinate refusal to accept the Jewish state instead of trying to destroy it, which alone disqualifies them from statehood, regardless of recognition by the U.N. General Assembly.

As for influencing Israel's war on Hamas, the Europeans again miss the point, which, in this case, is the Jewish state fighting for its survival and its security. No abstract endorsements of the Palestinians' right to independence will deter Israel's campaign to secure its existence.

On the other hand, the United States, which voted against the General Assembly resolution, has recently taken specific steps to awaken Palestinian leadership to the need for concrete changes on the ground, and culturally, before Israel or America would permit Palestinian independence. For example, the United States has moved to defund flawed U.N. agencies supporting the Palestinians and financially penalize the corrupt Palestinian Authority leadership for undermining peace with Israel.

Recognizing "Palestine" is nonsensical. International law holds that statehood requires a permanent population, a defined territory, effective governance and the ability to enter into relations with other states. The Palestinians meet none of these criteria.

For starters, there is no coherent government of Palestine. Hamas, devastated by its war with Israel, rules Gaza in name only, while the P.A. in Judea and Samaria (the "West Bank") has not held elections since 2006. The P.A. has only tentative control over the territories assigned to it under the Oslo Accords, having lost control of the Gaza Strip to Hamas in 2007. Its control in Judea and Samaria is uneven and precarious, dependent on Israel to enforce order.

In fact, Palestinian governmental institutions have demonstrated repeatedly that they are incapable of managing an independent state. The Palestinians also lack a self-sustaining economy. Even Palestinians themselves doubt the P.A.'s legitimacy, consistently showing in polls that many, if not most, living under P.A. rule want the institution dissolved and 89-year-old Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas thrown out.

Palestinians demonstrate an inability and unwillingness to take on the hard job of statehood. If Western countries wanted the Palestinians to achieve statehood, they would support Israel's fight against global jihadism rather than repeatedly bashing it, then implement programs to actively help the Palestinians overcome their rampant dysfunction.

For starters, Western countries could pressure the Palestinians to accept the presence and legitimacy of the Jewish State of Israel instead of trying to annihilate it. Obviously, Israel will never allow yet another country on its borders determined to destroy it. Although the Palestinians have paid lip service to the two-state solution, they have never implemented steps indicating a willingness to live peacefully alongside a Jewish state.

For example, earlier this month, Abbas told British Prime Minister Keir Starmer that his people were committed to "living side by side with the State of Israel in security, stability and good neighborliness."

Yet, simultaneously, Abbas's Fatah movement posted on social media its joyful celebration of "the heroic operation in the heart of Jerusalem city" in which six Israeli civilians at a bus station were murdered in cold blood by two terrorists. These homicides qualified the terrorists to receive generous monthly stipends for life from the P.A. Rather than making pointless declarations at the United Nations, Western countries intent on recognizing "Palestine" would be better off demanding that Abbas end his perverse "pay-for-slay" program.

U.S. measures pressure Palestinians to address statehood barriers. Rather than rewarding the Palestinians for the Oct. 7 massacre and ongoing terrorist murders of innocent Israelis with statehood recognition, the United States has chosen a more realistic path. U.S. actions are designed to change Palestinian behavior. 

For example, the Trump administration has ended all direct funding to the P.A. and has continued withholding funding from the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), the corrupt U.N. agency that has worked hand-in-glove with Hamas in Gaza and some of whose staff actually participated in the Oct. 7 massacre. U.S. President Donald Trump also withdrew from the U.N. Human Rights Council because of its "chronic bias" against Israel.

The Trump administration also recently revoked or denied visas for the leaders of the P.A. and the Palestine Liberation Organization. The U.S. State Department explained, saying, "It is in our national security interests to hold the PLO and P.A. accountable for not complying with their commitments, and for undermining the prospects for peace."

In short, the United States has taken measures aimed at pressuring the Palestinians to prepare themselves for self-determination. In contrast, Western states intent on recognizing "Palestine" at the United Nations are encouraging the Palestinians to follow the same dark and self-destructive path they've pursued for nearly eight decades.

Simply "recognizing" a Palestinian state doesn't help create one. Of course, the folly of some Western countries in recognizing "Palestine" isn't even aimed at helping the Palestinians achieve statehood. It's meant to punish Israel for waging a two-year war against Hamas, whose unpalatable results they are forced to view on every evening's news. They are apparently unwilling to pay the price for destroying a genocidal terrorist group whose goal is to annihilate not only Israel, but all of Western civilization.

Those who support Palestinian independence would best put pressure on Palestinian leaders to create conditions necessary for achieving statehood--acceptance of the Jewish state, functional governmental institutions, a self-sustaining economy and an education system that teaches tolerance, rather than terrorism.

Originally published at JNS.org