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<div class="gmail-inner-article-top"><h1 class="gmail-">Is Europe pushing for Palestinian statehood or Palestinian surrender? </h1><p class="gmail-">Europe\u2019s
belated recognition of Palestinian statehood is a naked geopolitical
maneuver \u2013 part of a wider normalization push that sidelines Palestinian
liberation, while repackaging defeat as diplomatic progress. Are we
witnessing the birth of a state? Or the declaration of its defeat?</p><div class="gmail-another-name"><p><a href="https://thecradle.co/authors/malek-al-khoury-105" style="color:rgb(164,4,4)">Malek al-Khoury</a></p></div><div class="gmail-another-name" style="margin-top:16px"><p><span style="color:rgb(84,88,94)">JUL 28, 2025 - </span><font size="1"><a href="https://thecradle.co/articles/is-europe-pushing-for-palestinian-statehood-or-palestinian-surrender">https://thecradle.co/articles/is-europe-pushing-for-palestinian-statehood-or-palestinian-surrender</a></font></p></div></div><div class="gmail-inner-article-img"><img src="https://thecradle-main.oss-eu-central-1.aliyuncs.com/public/articles/43bc5640-6bc0-11f0-aefb-00163e02c055.webp" alt="" width="394" height="186" style="margin-right: 0px;"><span>Photo Credit: The Cradle</span></div><div class="gmail-inner-article-content"><div class="gmail-row"><div class="gmail-col-md-8 gmail-col-sm-7"><div class="gmail-article-content"><span class="gmail-article-body"><p>Since
its inception in 1948, Israel has never operated within fixed borders.
Expansion has always been its doctrine \u2013 not constrained by law, but
propelled by force and endorsed by unwavering western support. Israel
has refused to define its boundaries for almost eight decades because
its very identity is rooted in a colonial ambition that has never truly
ended.</p><p>From the Nakba (Catastrophe) to the Naksa (Setback), from
territorial invasions to the annexation of Jerusalem, the Golan Heights,
and the <a href="https://thecradle.co/articles/the-end-of-the-two-state-illusion-west-bank-is-gone-jordan-is-in-the-firing-line">West Bank</a>, the occupation state has continued to <a href="https://thecradle.co/articles/davids-corridor-israels-shadow-project-to-redraw-the-levant">redraw</a> its borders according to power, not legitimacy. </p><p>This
expansionist project has only grown stronger with the rise of the
messianic-nationalist current inside Israel, which sees full control
over \u201cGreater Israel\u201d as a historical right that cannot be compromised.</p><p>Today,
77 years since the Nakba, Israel has advanced to full-throttle
expansion mode \u2013 dispossessing Palestinians, destroying entire towns and
villages, entrenching illegal Jewish settlements, and enforcing
apartheid. Yet paradoxically, European states like France and the UK are
preparing to <a href="https://thecradle.co/articles/us-pressures-london-paris-against-recognizing-palestinian-state-report">recognize</a>
a \u201cPalestinian state\u201d precisely when Palestinian political geography is
at its most fragmented, and when the Zionist project is at its most
aggressive.</p><p>So what does this recognition actually mean? Is it a
strategic achievement for Palestinians, or a diplomatic ruse that
rebrands surrender as success?</p><p><strong>A state without borders, a project without restraint</strong></p><p>The 1917 <a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20161102-explained-the-balfour-declaration/">Balfour Declaration</a>
marked the formal launch of a settler-colonial project in Palestine.
What followed was not immigration but calculated dispossession \u2013 from
British-facilitated land seizures and massacres, to the mass expulsions
of the 1948 Nakba, which <a href="https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/1650102">ethnically cleansed</a> over 750,000 Palestinians.</p><p>This
was not mere colonialism. It was ethnic replacement: Land was seized
under imperial protection, then militarily conquered. This campaign
never ended. It continued with the occupation of Gaza, Jerusalem, and
the West Bank, and escalated after 1967. Israel's goal has never been
coexistence. It has always been <a href="https://thecradle.co/articles-id/1247">Jewish supremacy</a>.</p><p>The 1947 UN Partition Plan (<a href="https://www.un.org/unispal/document/auto-insert-185393/">Resolution 181</a>)
granted over 55 percent of historic Palestine to the Zionist movement,
despite Jews owning just six percent of the land. The Zionist movement
accepted this on paper to gain international legitimacy, then
immediately violated its terms, occupying 78 percent of the territory by
force.</p><p>To this day, the occupation state has not adopted a formal
constitution, and the reason is that basing itself on the Partition
Plan would have constrained its expansionist ambitions. The Zionist
doctrine never recognized final borders, instead establishing a state
with no official frontiers \u2013 because its ambitions stretch beyond
Palestinian geography to include parts of Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and
Egypt.</p><p>The internal debate in Israel over declaring a \u201cJewish
state\u201d is not merely a legal argument, but an attempt to solidify an
exclusionary and replacement-based identity \u2013 one that legally enshrines
racial discrimination and denies Palestinians their status as an
indigenous people.</p><p><strong>Resistance realignment: 7 October and the Two-State shift</strong></p><p>The earthquake triggered by <a href="https://thecradle.co/articles/the-geopolitics-of-al-aqsa-flood">Operation Al-Aqsa Flood</a>
shook not only Israel but also the political discourse of the
Palestinian movement. Strikingly, Palestinian factions \u2013 including Hamas
\u2013 have begun explicitly voicing support for the \u201cTwo-State Solution\u201d
after years of insisting on liberating historic Palestine in its
entirety.</p><p>In an unprecedented statement, senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya said in May 2024:</p><blockquote><p>\u201cWe
are ready to engage positively with any serious initiative for a
two-state solution, provided it entails a real Palestinian state on the
1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital and without settlements.\u201d</p></blockquote><p>This
tactical adaptation signals a significant shift. After decades of
insisting on full liberation, key Palestinian actors are now openly
considering a truncated state. Is this a reflection of changing power
dynamics? Or an imposed realignment under regional and international
duress?</p><p><strong>Recognition as Leverage: France, Saudi Arabia, and normalization</strong></p><p>Last week, in a <a href="https://x.com/EmmanuelMacron/status/1948482142356603089">post</a> on X, French President Emmanuel Macron said:</p><blockquote><p>\u201cConsistent
with its historic commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle
East, I have decided that France will recognize the State of Palestine. I
will make this solemn announcement before the United Nations General
Assembly this coming September \u2026 We need an immediate ceasefire, the
release of all hostages, and massive humanitarian aid for the people of
Gaza. We must also ensure the demilitarization of Hamas, secure and
rebuild Gaza. And finally, we must build the State of Palestine,
guarantee its viability, and ensure that by accepting its
demilitarization and fully recognizing Israel, it contributes to the
security of all in the region. There is no alternative.\u201d</p></blockquote><p>France's
anticipated recognition of a Palestinian state in September is not
driven by principle, but is a hard, cold geopolitical maneuver. It would
appear that Paris is seeking closer ties with Riyadh, which has
tethered <a href="https://thecradle.co/articles-id/24979">normalization</a>
with Tel Aviv to progress on the Palestinian file. French recognition
is thus a calculated signal to Saudi Arabia \u2013 not a gesture of
solidarity with Palestinians.</p><p>In this equation, Palestine becomes
currency. Its statehood is not affirmed as a right, but dangled as a
precondition in normalization deals between Arab monarchies and the
occupation state.</p><p><strong>Strategic alignments: The Ankara\u2013London Axis</strong></p><p>With a third of MPs calling on British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to recognize Palestine, pressure is also piling on London. </p><p>In a statement, Starmer said: </p><blockquote><p>\u201cAlongside
our closest allies, I am working on a pathway to peace in the region,
focused on the practical solutions that will make a real difference to
the lives of those that are suffering in this war. That pathway will set
out the concrete steps needed to turn the ceasefire so desperately
needed, into a lasting peace. Recognition of a Palestinian state has to
be one of those steps. I am unequivocal about that.\u201d</p></blockquote><p>Britain,
too, is not moving toward recognition out of moral clarity, but to
reinforce its post-Brexit strategic axis with Turkiye. Ankara, a key <a href="https://thecradle.co/articles-id/27271">trading partner</a>
of Israel and political backer of Hamas, views the recognition of
Palestine as a tool to elevate its regional stature and energy leverage.
For London, deepening ties with Turkiye promises economic and
geopolitical dividends. The result is a converging Paris\u2013Riyadh and
Ankara\u2013London recognition track.</p><p>Thus, two informal axes are
forming: Paris\u2013Riyadh and Ankara\u2013London, both converging on the
recognition of a Palestinian state. Yet neither axis approaches it from a
principled belief in Palestinian rights, but rather through the lens of
power, influence, and realpolitik.</p><p><strong>The Palestinian state: Recognition without sovereignty </strong></p><p>Even
if every European country were to recognize Palestine, it would amount
to little more than symbolism without enforcement. There would be no
defined borders for the state, no control over its own territory, and no
halt to the settlement expansion or annexation policies pursued by the
occupation state.</p><p>Tel Aviv rejects the premise entirely. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/netanyahu-says-any-future-palestinian-state-would-be-platform-destroy-israel-2025-07-08/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">insisted</a>
that any future Palestinian state would be \u201ca platform to destroy
Israel,\u201d and that sovereign security control must remain with Israel. He
has repeatedly ruled out a return to the conditions that existed prior
to 7 October. </p><p>The reality is that 68 percent of the West Bank,
classified as Area C, remains under full Israeli control. More than
750,000 settlers are embedded across that territory, under the full
protection of the occupation army. How can a state exist on occupied,
fragmented land, under constant siege, and without sovereignty?</p><p>\u201cI\u2019ve
just returned from a lecture tour around the world, and I can
confidently say Israel\u2019s global image and position are at their lowest
point in history,\u201d writes Israeli journalist Ben-Dror Yemini.</p><p>Yet
despite this, Netanyahu\u2019s far-right government is doubling down -
pushing for full annexation of the occupied West Bank, eyeing new
territorial footholds in Sinai, southern Syria, even <a href="https://thecradle.co/articles/the-end-of-the-two-state-illusion-west-bank-is-gone-jordan-is-in-the-firing-line">Jordan</a>, while maintaining military positions in south Lebanon.</p><p>Israel\u2019s global brand may be eroding, but its strategic project is advancing.</p><p>If
Israel is expanding and entrenching, while the Palestinian movement
scales back demands and regional states normalize ties, what exactly has
been achieved? </p><p>Resistance factions that once rejected Tel Aviv\u2019s
existence now propose statehood on its terms. European
recognition comes with no teeth. Settlements grow. Displacement
continues. This is not liberation. It is the burial of the dream under
the guise of diplomacy. </p><p>The interim solution will become the
final arrangement. The Palestinian \u201cstate\u201d becomes a diplomatic
euphemism \u2013 an empty structure praised in speeches, but denied on the
ground.</p></span></div></div></div></div>
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