The Recognition That Does Not Protect... Is Not Enough

Author: بسام زكارنة

International positions towards the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories continue to reflect a glaring contradiction between declared slogans and actual practices. Some countries that recently moved to recognize the Palestinian state—after more than a century of waiting—still impose preconditions for any practical step: the release of Israeli prisoners before opening embassies, halting allowances for Palestinian prisoners, amending curricula, and excluding Hamas from any future Palestinian government. These conditions, dressed in the cloak of values, are in their essence selective and lack humanitarian justice and objectivity. Recognizing the Palestinian state is an important step, but its timing alone says a lot. How can we celebrate a decision delayed for a hundred and eight years while since 1917 thousands of martyrs and innocent children have fallen, and thousands of refugees displaced, while now dozens of thousands of civilians are being killed daily in Gaza, including more than 16,000 Palestinian children, along with many women, the elderly, doctors, and journalists? Everybody in Gaza has been displaced more than ten times during the ongoing war that has lasted for two years, while the international media and some governments focus on the death of only fifty Israeli children. This discrepancy in coverage reveals a double standard where the lives of some victims are valued more than others, while the tragedy of Palestinian civilians is ignored despite the magnitude of the humanitarian catastrophe. On the issue of prisoners, the disparity remains clear. Some countries' demands to halt salaries for Palestinian prisoners who resisted the occupation overlook the fundamental truth: these prisoners acted in accordance with international law and are regarded by their people as fighters who fulfilled their sacred duty against an ongoing occupation. Meanwhile, any release of Israeli prisoners is linked to political conditions while the voices of these countries remain silent regarding thousands of Palestinian prisoners who endure harsh conditions in Israeli prisons, some of whom have spent more than forty years behind bars. This double standard raises a profound moral question: how can we talk about human rights while ignoring the lives of Palestinian children, women, and freedom prisoners? There is another contradiction in some governments' demands to amend Palestinian educational curricula, as if what is required is to erase the historical memory of the Palestinian people and stop teaching their right to the land and their right to self-determination according to international and humanitarian law. In contrast, no one calls for amendments to the Israeli curricula that instill racist doctrines and have produced an army and leadership documented by international reports as committing war crimes. These curricula feed a culture of violence against Palestinian civilians and against anyone who is not a Zionist, including children, women, pregnant women, doctors. The simple question here is: who should review their curricula? Those who educate their people on resisting occupation and their rights to the land, or those who feed a culture of killing, occupation, and colonization? On the political side, the condition imposed by some countries not to include Hamas in the Palestinian government represents a blatant interference in internal affairs. Palestinian political history shows that factions tend towards peaceful political work whenever an independent state is available and the sovereignty of the people is respected, as Fatah did after years of armed struggle. Demanding that Palestinians abandon resistance or excluding a faction without ending the occupation and the ongoing settlement expansions and incursions into holy sites is a request that contradicts international law and democratic values and does not lead to true peace. In contrast, these countries do not demand an end to the occupation and settlements and do not require excluding war criminals from Israeli soldiers and officials in the Israeli government such as Netanyahu, Smotrich, and Ben Gvir. Is that acceptable to them? What values, ethics, and laws are they talking about? All these contradictions reveal what lies behind the official rhetoric of these countries: narrow political calculations cloaked in talk of human rights and justice to absorb the anger of their people, alongside other goals such as granting the occupation time to implement its plans while the humanitarian catastrophe on the ground in Gaza and the West Bank continues to be neglected. True peace is not built on trading rights for political interests or double standards; it begins with an immediate stop to the killing, protecting civilians and children, lifting the siege, preventing starvation wars, and holding accountable those who have violated international law, followed by an equitable political process that acknowledges the rights of everyone—Palestinians and Israelis alike. Until that happens, the urgent question remains: Where are the values that major capitals brag about while Palestinian children are being killed on a large scale, and they remain silent and neglect thousands of Palestinian prisoners for decades? The humanitarian realities on the ground cannot bear waiting or political conditions; killing must be stopped immediately, civilians and children must be protected, the war of starvation must be halted, and humanitarian aid must be allowed in to rebuild houses before winter approaches, before any dialogue or final solutions, before any political negotiations, before any conditions. The answer comes silently from the ongoing bombardment, the scattered bodies of children daily, the cries of children under the rubble, from among the destroyed houses and besieged streets, and from the memory of a people who do not want their truths and rights to be erased, asserting that any delay in humanitarian justice means the continuation of catastrophe and the draining of lives without mercy. Everyone must hear the voice of the Palestinian people demanding what is clear and tangible: Give us a state with borders according to international law and safety for our people, remove the settlements, and end the occupation. After that, you can impose whatever conditions you wish to serve lasting peace and the recognition of our state; we leave that to you and can implement it whenever you wish. These are not partial political demands but the foundation of justice and peace and the real starting point for any lasting solution that respects human rights and national dignity. What value does recognition have if the massacre continues?