Mr. President.. The Opportunity is Yours to Enter History Through Its Widest Gates

Information leaked from the circles of President Mahmoud Abbas suggests that consultations are underway regarding the intention to declare the Palestinian Authority a state unilaterally, coinciding with the convening of the United Nations General Assembly in September.

President Abu Mazen, who is nearing his ninth decade, is the last historical leader of the Palestinian revolution. He has presented himself as a man of peace and has made continuous efforts to prove this. It has been clear since he took office as the President of the Palestinian Authority that he has greatly wagered on this to the extent of colliding with the angry public mood regarding the practices of the occupying authorities, which contradict all visions of peace, and faced opposition to his policies, affecting his popularity, which has significantly declined. He is known for his stubbornness and standing firm in his views and policies while not relinquishing the national constants and the foundations of the peace process that began in Madrid in 1991, culminating in the Declaration of Principles agreement in Oslo in 1993 and the establishment of the Palestinian Authority, along with subsequent broader agreements that he genuinely hoped would lead to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. However, this time optimism prevails regarding the possibility of establishing an independent Palestinian state within three to five years, given the wave of international intentions to recognize the Palestinian state and amidst a wave of global anger and outrage against the brutal Israeli practices against the Palestinian people in general, and our people in the Gaza Strip in particular, who are facing a war of starvation and genocide.

This brings to mind questions exchanged by Palestinians and many interested parties, friends and foes, regarding Palestinian issues across the globe: What will the form of the Palestinian state be, and what will its borders be? Is there really a possibility for its establishment in light of the Israeli intransigence supported by the United States, especially after the announcement by the occupying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he is undertaking a historical and spiritual mission represented in establishing what he calls "Greater Israel," which includes, in addition to Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt?

Returning to the last century, with the beginning of the British mandate over historic Palestine, international law stipulates that the responsibilities of the mandate authorities include preparing the population to establish their own state. Indeed, the British mandate authorities - perhaps a form of deception and circumvention of international law, for which the English are notorious - displayed some features of the Palestinian state, such as issuing Palestinian currency (the pound) and Palestinian nationality between 1922 and 1925. From a legal perspective, the nationality clause alone establishes the fundamental cornerstone for state independence, which was indeed carried out by granting Palestinian nationality to the majority of the Arab population and the Jewish minority at that time, who retained their Palestinian nationality until the issuance of the so-called Israeli nationality law in 1952, which was adopted by the Zionist movement. This led the British mandate government to violate the mandate law imposed on it by international law to Judaize Palestine geographically, demographically, and topographically.

This means that the features of the Palestinian state have existed since the era of the British mandate, regardless of whether it was intentional or unintentional. However, what the mandate did is considered a legal loophole that the Palestinian state, recognized as an observer by the United Nations, can exploit and demand the implementation of what international law has mandated through the United Nations General Assembly's resolution on November 29, 1947, which called for the division of Palestine into a Jewish state over 57% of historic Palestine, located on the coastal plain from Haifa to the south of Tel Aviv, and the eastern Galilee, including the Sea of Galilee, the Galilee finger, and the Negev, including Um al-Rashrash, which was referred to as Eilat, and an Arab state over 42% of historic Palestine, located in the western Galilee, Acre, and the southern coast extending from the north of Ashdod to the south to Rafah, along with a portion of the desert along the border with Egypt, and the West Bank of the Jordan River, while Jerusalem would be under international guardianship.

This resolution can be a fundamental basis for claiming the Palestinian state, especially since Israel cannot deny it because it recognized and accepted it twice: the first was with the declaration of its so-called independence in 1948, and the second in 1949 with the acceptance of its application to join the United Nations on the condition of its implementation of the two UN resolutions 181 establishing an Arab state alongside it, and resolution 194 regarding the return of the original inhabitants to their homes or compensation for those who do not wish to return, which has not been implemented to this day. This means that the legitimacy of international Jewry (Israel) is questionable due to the non-implementation of either of the aforementioned resolutions.

In addition, the declaration of the Palestinian state that was proclaimed by the late President Yasser Arafat in the Palestinian National Council in Algeria in 1988, which received recognition from 108 countries at the time, was based on UN resolution 181 and indeed established the foundations of the Palestinian state legally, despite the injustice that this resolution inflicted on the Arab Palestinian people.

President Mahmoud Abbas's intentions - if the leaked information is accurate - to replace the Palestinian Authority with a Palestinian state in his upcoming speech at the United Nations General Assembly in September is a step in the right direction and a good investment in the unfolding developments following the events of October 7, 2023. Although the consequences are severe, and injustices will be inflicted on many rights of the Arab Palestinian people in their land of historic Palestine, it will preserve the blood of martyrs, the wounded, the prisoners, and the innocent victims, and it will establish a just peace in the region where its peoples enjoy security and stability. However, this should be preceded by several steps that would lead the Palestinian leadership toward success if the intentions are sincere, and then President Abu Mazen will see himself opening the gates of history wide, which are: 1. Commencing a serious national dialogue that includes all Palestinian factions without exception, culminating in an announcement to end the Palestinian internal division and unify Palestinian territories and presenting a unified position to the international community. 2. Highest level Palestinian-Arab coordination to revive the Arab peace initiative, but based on UN resolutions 181 and 194, and not based on UN resolution 242, which calls for the occupying state to withdraw from the West Bank, Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem, and the Syrian Golan. 3. Reassessing the bilateral agreements (Palestinian-Israeli), particularly the Declaration of Principles Agreement (Oslo) signed in 1993, and resorting to international legitimacy pertaining to the Palestine issue, as a whole without excluding any of it, while considering the negative repercussions that may be imposed by the occupying authorities and their ally, the United States, but for the sake of national necessity, there are its laws and consequences. 4. Reviving international recognitions of the Palestinian state. 5. Announcing the end of the futile negotiations with the Israeli side, which are considered by legal experts to violate international law, as there are two UN resolutions and an Israeli commitment to implement them, namely 181 and 194, and they should not be subjected to negotiations. 6. The Palestinian state can turn to international courts and demand that the occupying state comply with the UN resolutions, as well as sue the British mandate state for violating the mandate laws imposed upon it by international law and hold accountable the countries supporting the Israeli occupying state for violating international legitimacy laws.

The announcement of the state of Palestine under occupation, alongside international recognitions, would restore the prestige of international law that has been overshadowed and reduce the injustices faced by the Arab Palestinian people, increasing the isolation of the occupying state until it complies with international legitimacy and implements what is required of it to establish its legitimacy, leading to the achievement of the desired peace. If the information is accurate and President Mahmoud Abbas succeeds in his vision, he will undoubtedly enter history through its widest gates and record his name among the greats.