France, Britain, Canada, Australia, and Malta plan to recognize a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly, joining 147 existing UN members. The recognition is largely symbolic in the short term but represents a significant political step. Israel currently refuses to negotiate with the Palestine Liberation Organization, effectively holding the PLO, the Palestinian Authority, and Fatah responsible for all Palestinian actions, including those of Hamas. The PA has governance and corruption problems, and the PLO has missed opportunities, yet both have committed to negotiation over violence and honored the 1993 recognition of Israel. International recognition under PLO leadership could strengthen diplomatic routes to statehood.
France, Britain, Canada, Australia, and Malta all say they are preparing to recognize a state of Palestine at the upcoming United Nations General Assembly in September. They would join another 147 UN countries that already do so. In some senses, the move is symbolic: It will not change the realities on the ground in the Middle East, at least not in the short term. But it is a major step nonetheless.
No Israeli-Palestinian "peace process" is currently under way, the countries pledging recognition noted in their statements. This is because Israel refuses to speak with the diplomatic representative of the Palestinian people, the Palestine Liberation Organization. In effect, Israel has held the PLO and its subsidiaries-the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and the Fatah political party-responsible for the actions of all Palestinians, including the PLO's extremist archrival, Hamas. (The United States, for its part, has never had a bilateral relationship with the Palestinians.)
The struggle for Palestinian statehood has been long and arduous. The PLO and PA, to be sure, have sometimes gotten in their own way. In the West Bank, the PA has overseen a corrupt system that leaves little space for civil society. And the PLO has squandered several potential opportunities to pursue statehood, especially an overture in 2008 by then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
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