Uk, Canada and Australia Formally Recognise Palestinian State

> That the United Kingdom…

> Formally recognises the State of Palestine.

https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-statement-on-the-r...

https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Palestine_recognit... (“File History”)

Just browsing history on MediaWiki will probably show the old tex with recenn image. If you want full article, you'd have to use web.archive.org, archive.is or somethinglike that.

>[light green] Countries that have announced their impending recognition of Palestine (Australia, France, Malta, and San Marino)

but Australia is dark green in the current image (France still light green and I can't be bothered zooming to see the small ones)

There are a few things that made this possible. One important factor is the change of prime minister. Whereas Thatcher saw things only in terms of terrorists who need to be fought, John Major had more holistic view and recognised that in spite of the terrorism, there were some real structural problems that needed addressing. Even Ian Paisley admitted as much later in life, which would be roughly equivalent to Ben-Gvir admitting there is something to the Palestinian complaints.

I guess my point is there can be happy endings to these types of conflicts. No one wins with the current situation, certainly not Israel. Punching everyone around you in the face as a defensive strategy works fantastically well right up until the point you take a nap, at which point everyone will stomp on your head like it's a right watermelon.

A genocide doesn't happen. While we see a lot of death in wars and any death it too much, it isn't relevant in the grand scheme of things regarding population numbers.

Number 1 will never happen, it would end in a real genocide that does fit the term. Number 2 has become less likely and was rejected thoroughly in the past by Palestinians. Number 3 is actually Israel occupying Gaza for a long time and it will probably prompt a repeated aggression in the future. This is the most likely option for now.

Perhaps with Hamas ousted and the realization how much suffering their aggression did inflict, there can be peace in the future, that results in something like number 2.

It's a sad conflict that can't be solved without some kind of superior external force, that would use extreme economic and military measures to make two sides tolerate each other. America is closest to that force, and they've chosen their side. Best Palestinians can hope for is a peaceful relocation somewhere else I'm afraid.

Considering how many times Arabs started and lost wars against Israel, how many atrocities they did to Israel people it's not a surprise your #2 is not a popular option there.

Need to mention nothing can justify current levels of destruction in Gaza.

But it makes incursions into Palestine by Israel explicitly of an international nature. Palestine is and has been considered occupied territory, but without recognizing Palestine as a state, what soverign country's territory is occupied?

Perhaps now that there is a recognized country whose territory is being occupied, the recognizing countries may oppose the occupation in more specific ways. Perhaps, the same sorts of protestations without specific action as in years past.

Real (positive) change for Palestinians would start with Israel withdrawing from the occupied territories[1], and that needs more than a declaration of statehood, but a declaration of statehood may be a tiny step towards that goal.

[1] It's not strictly required, but I suspect it's more likely for Israel to withdraw than it is for Israel to radically change how they interact with the occupied territories.

That this fact is ignored in the debate is deplorable, but fortunately there are those working in states across the world that understand that, in order for there to be reliable, official assistance granted to the people of Palestine, having their state recognized first of all, makes it far more likely to happen.

It means that the Palestinian passport can be recognized, officially, on refugee lines. It means that aid can be declared a state-to-state expenditure.

There are so many benefits to recognizing Palestinian statehood that one really must question the motives of those who do not understand why it is essential that it happen.

His party lost the last legislative elections. Polls show 78% against recognizing palestinian statehood NOW and without conditions.

He is totally illegitimate in doing so.

He's still going to do it.

> Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, or celebrities, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon. Videos of pratfalls or disasters, or cute animal pictures. If they'd cover it on TV news, it's probably off-topic.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

I guess we shall see how Israel actually benefits from this soon.