Even if you will it, it’s still a dream

In what seemed like an attempt to will a State of Palestine into existence last week, a host of Western countries led by France announced their recognition of a Palestinian state at a UN summit convened by France and Saudi Arabia. The conference showcased rhetoric familiar to anyone following the past three decades of peace efforts, along with old promises of moderation and aspirations for peace from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas who hailed the decisions taken by France, the U.K., Australia, Canada and others.

However, the well-intentioned declarations from European dignitaries and UN officials about the “moral imperative” to recognize a Palestinian state do not address any of the ongoing obstacles to peace. For decades, Israel has been urged to “take risks for peace,” with the world demanding that Jerusalem make existential concessions in exchange for little more than unfulfilled promises from Palestinian leaders.

History tells us such risks have come with disastrous results: In 2005, Israel completely withdrew from the Gaza Strip, handing the Palestinian Authority everything necessary to build a state. Within two years, the PA was overthrown by Hamas, which spent the next 15 years diverting international aid towards building the largest terror base on the planet.

Moreover, polls consistently show that Hamas still enjoys the support of a majority of Palestinians in the West Bank. Empty declarations from European leaders and President Abbas that Hamas will be excluded from any future Palestinian government will not halt the nefarious ambitions of the terror group.

Furthermore, does no favors to the 48 hostages still being held by Hamas. Over the summer, as diplomatic victories piled up for Hamas in the form of Western recognition announcements, the terror group realized it had no incentive to make any concessions in hostage deal negotiations. In fact, Hamas leaders repeatedly welcomed the recognitions, and just last week in an interview with CNN, senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad celebrated the world’s response as the fruits of the terror group’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. Hamas is emboldened and the hostages remain in captivity precisely because the world has played into its hands.

Yet, multiple world leaders insist that recognition does not reward terror, absurdly arguing that it punishes groups like Hamas by recognizing Palestine “alongside Israel,” which the terror group rejects. But, since when does Hamas care about Western public opinion? Much like in 2005, Hamas and its allies will stop at nothing to exploit a Palestinian State in the West Bank into an even larger platform for attacks on Israel with the intent of destroying the sole Jewish state. In fact, merely excluding Hamas from any new government will only give it more time to devote to terrorism once it is unburdened by the duties of civilian administration.

Similarly, the Palestinian Authority does not offer much more in terms of guaranteeing peace. The argument that recognition bolsters Palestinian “moderates” ignores the glaring problem: President Mahmoud Abbas does not speak the language of “moderation” to his people, having enabled, funded, and glorified terrorism for decades. His UN speech, laden with platitudes about pluralism and democracy, tells the West what it wants to hear, but this is the same leader who has presided over a political system that has not held an election since 2006 and which has paid millions to those convicted of violence against Israelis. Additionally, his assurances that Hamas would have no place in a future government ring hollow, especially given Hamas’s popularity on the Palestinian street.

Not once has Abbas offered Israel – or the world for that matter – anything more than unfulfilled promises and refusal. Since the 1993 Oslo Accords, every major Israeli peace offer has been answered with rejection and bloodshed. Whether it was  the Second Intifada unleashed following the 90s peace process, Abbas’s rejection of then-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s very generous peace offer in 2008, the rejection of President Trump’s peace proposal in 2020 which came with a $50 billion economic incentive, or the PA’s pay to slay policy, peaceful resolution was never something the Palestinian leadership ever seemed to seriously consider.

Palestinian rejectionism cannot be erased by wishful thinking.

The sad reality is that Palestinian leadership prefers eternal victimhood over statehood which comes with real responsibility. Statehood would require actual nation building, ending the UNRWA gravy train – which has pumped billions into the pockets of Palestinian leaders for decades – and, most fundamentally, abandoning the so-called right of return, a demand no Palestinian leader would ever dare to forgo.

Even as Abbas addressed the UN in flowery language, boasting of his recognition of Israel, he wore a lapel pin of a key symbolizing the Palestinian demand to “return” to Israel – a direct challenge to Israel’s character as a Jewish state, and by extension, a two state solution. His convenient “recognition” of Israel is nothing more than tactical, devoid of substance and offering no path to a peace deal.

Finally, even if Abbas were to agree to a deal with Israel and relinquish the right of return, the highly unpopular Palestinian Authority neither controls all Palestinians nor enjoys public legitimacy. How can Israel be expected to make existential concessions to a supposed peace partner who cannot even speak on behalf of his people?

What has changed since October 7, except for the world’s mounting impatience with the consequences of its own failed diplomacy? Israel cannot—and should not—entrust its security to the guarantees of outsiders or to the unfulfilled promises of a Palestinian Authority that has neither the will nor the capacity to rid its own house of Hamas and other armed factions. Demanding irreversible concessions from Israel to an entity that does not unconditionally recognize Israel, does not unequivocally renounce terrorism, and does not control its own people is not just tone-deaf, it’s dangerous.

Thus, contrary to the assertions of UN Secretary General Guterres, there is no evidence that unilateral recognition, in the absence of meaningful change on the Palestinian side, will stem the appeal of Hamas or nudge Palestinian society toward the painful compromises real peace requires. Instead, it sends the message that terror pays, and that even the most horrific violence can yield diplomatic windfalls.

If the lesson of the past three decades tells us anything, peace cannot be imposed, least of all on a recalcitrant, divided Palestinian population still mired in rejectionism and wholly unwilling to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. To gloss over these realities, to grant statehood as a matter of moral impulse only perpetuates the conflict.

A responsible international community would wield its influence wisely by leveraging trade and aid to press the Palestinian Authority to unite, reform, and recognize its obligations. It would end the charade of organizations like UNRWA, whose existence disincentivizes progress and eternalizes Palestinian victimhood. It would demand that the Palestinians demonstrate responsibility, acceptance of previous agreements, and a genuine commitment to nation building. It would not reward rejection and terror attacks with recognition, nor would it foist the burden of proof perpetually onto Israel, whose own security and national aspirations are continually discounted.

So long as the Palestinian cause remains defined more by what it rejects than by what it builds, so long as its leaders tell its people one thing and the West another, and so long as the empty promise of displacing Israel instead of living alongside it remains a key Palestinian objective, efforts to will a Palestinian state into existence are doomed to fail.

Referring to the establishment of a Jewish state, Theodore Herzl famously said: “If you will it, it is no dream.” Israel was not built on self pity and victimhood, but on actions that turned a dream into reality. Only once the Palestinians earn their recognition by building up instead of tearing down and truly recognizing Israel for what it is, real statehood will remain a dream — a dream the world may pander to, but which reality will continue to refuse. Willing alone, it turns out, is not enough.