Why is Palestine not considered a nation by some countries?
Answers
Answered by
2
Many countries do recognize Palestine as either a "non-member observer state" (138 members, or 70%, of the UN take this position) or as a sovereign state (135 members of the UN take this position). Some countries abstain, and this can be taken as standing on the sidelines and waiting to see what happens. It is instructive to take a look at which countries don't recognize Palestine as a state, and why that happens.
United Nations General Assembly resolution 67/19 was opposed by only 9 states out of the 193 members of the UN:
Israel. This is pretty obvious: if Palestine was recognized internationally as a state, then the occupation of Palestine becomes even more unsustainable than it is at present.
United States of America. The historical reason for this was that Israel serves as the US's outpost in the Middle East. As Israel continues to move further away from any sort of peace agreement, as more nations recognize Palestine, and as $3bn in aid to Israel each year becomes less affordable, this becomes more and more unsustainable. At present, the US support for Israel seems to be mostly due to US domestic lobbying, although even that is waning. So I expect that at some point in the next 10-15 years, assuming that Israel continues on its present course, the US will figure out that its just not worth supporting it.
Canada. Canada has largely followed the US's lead in most foreign policy areas, and this is no different.
Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Panama. These are basically client states of the US, and largely vote the way that the US votes when their votes won't change the outcome.
Czech Republic. I don't know why this state voted as it did. I don't know it well enough. If you do know, please leave a comment.
So it's really just Israel and the US that, of all the UN, actively oppose a Palestinian state. Now we can discuss the implications.
The US, of course, is the world's superpower state. It holds an effective veto in Security Council deliberations, which it has mostly exercised on Israel's behalf. It can use this to deny Palestine formal recognition as a state for as long as it likes. Without formal recognition, Palestine cannot make treaties, bind itself to various conventions, and so on. In other words, its international diplomatic relations are constrained. Furthermore, it continues to be possible for Israel to make the semantically-unsound claim that "Palestine doesn't exist", and therefore justify the occupation of Palestine to its domestic audience.
United Nations General Assembly resolution 67/19 was opposed by only 9 states out of the 193 members of the UN:
Israel. This is pretty obvious: if Palestine was recognized internationally as a state, then the occupation of Palestine becomes even more unsustainable than it is at present.
United States of America. The historical reason for this was that Israel serves as the US's outpost in the Middle East. As Israel continues to move further away from any sort of peace agreement, as more nations recognize Palestine, and as $3bn in aid to Israel each year becomes less affordable, this becomes more and more unsustainable. At present, the US support for Israel seems to be mostly due to US domestic lobbying, although even that is waning. So I expect that at some point in the next 10-15 years, assuming that Israel continues on its present course, the US will figure out that its just not worth supporting it.
Canada. Canada has largely followed the US's lead in most foreign policy areas, and this is no different.
Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Panama. These are basically client states of the US, and largely vote the way that the US votes when their votes won't change the outcome.
Czech Republic. I don't know why this state voted as it did. I don't know it well enough. If you do know, please leave a comment.
So it's really just Israel and the US that, of all the UN, actively oppose a Palestinian state. Now we can discuss the implications.
The US, of course, is the world's superpower state. It holds an effective veto in Security Council deliberations, which it has mostly exercised on Israel's behalf. It can use this to deny Palestine formal recognition as a state for as long as it likes. Without formal recognition, Palestine cannot make treaties, bind itself to various conventions, and so on. In other words, its international diplomatic relations are constrained. Furthermore, it continues to be possible for Israel to make the semantically-unsound claim that "Palestine doesn't exist", and therefore justify the occupation of Palestine to its domestic audience.
Similar questions