{"id":74789,"date":"2025-09-25T09:29:57","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T07:29:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/libmod.de\/?p=74789"},"modified":"2025-09-25T10:19:04","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T08:19:04","slug":"recognizing-a-palestinian-state-now-is-purely-symbolic-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libmod.de\/en\/recognizing-a-palestinian-state-now-is-purely-symbolic-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"Recog\u00adnizing a Pales\u00adtinian state now is purely symbolic politics"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Foto: Imago<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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For almost two years \u2013 since October 7, 2023, when the terrorist organi\u00adzation Hamas attacked Israel, murdered 1,200 civilians, and took 240 hostages \u2013 war has been raging in Gaza. The conflict is being fought with unrelenting ferocity \u2013 on both sides. Kerstin M\u00fcller, Program Director for the Middle East Network, assesses the current situation and explains why recog\u00adnizing a Pales\u00adtinian state would currently be purely symbolic politics.<\/h3>\n

<\/p>\n

The Netanyahu govern\u00adment\u2019s declared war aim is the destruction of Hamas. For almost two years, however, the Israeli military has failed to force Hamas to surrender, let alone destroy it. What is traumatic and far more signif\u00adicant for Israeli society, however, is that the other declared goal \u2013 the liber\u00adation of the hostages still being held \u2013 has failed due to the military action taken so far: 53 people remain in the hands of Hamas, where they are being tortured and starved to death in under\u00adground tunnels, or have already been murdered. It is likely that barely more than 20 of them are still alive.<\/p>\n

The few hostages who have since been released were freed in exchange for hundreds of Pales\u00adtinian prisoners during the only ceasefire from January 19 to March 2, 2025. Netanyahu\u2019s extremist government, however, is now relying exclu\u00adsively on military action \u2013 diplo\u00admatic options are no longer on the agenda. The majority of the cabinet even rejected a renewed partial deal and decided on August 20 to take Gaza by military force instead. Ergo: the war will continue with even greater intensity. It is not only the inter\u00adna\u00adtional community that is up in arms about this escalation. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis are also taking to the streets every day to demon\u00adstrate alongside the families of the hostages for an immediate end to the war and a ceasefire.<\/p>\n

\u201cBring them home!\u201d<\/h2>\n

... is the demand of the demon\u00adstrators \u2013 they are shouting it in the streets and squares of Tel Aviv. But Netanyahu and his extremist ministers Smotrich and Ben Gvir are deaf to these cries from their own people. No wonder: they are pursuing a different plan \u2013 and quite openly so. Finance Minister Smotrich calls for \u201cthe Gaza Strip to be taken, occupied and settled.\u201d To achieve this goal, \u201cno human\u00adi\u00adtarian aid should be allowed in.\u201d Security Minister Ben Gvir, chairman of the radical Otzma Yehudit party, which serves as Netanyahu\u2019s majority provider, has stated that he hopes that the Pales\u00adtinians in Gaza will eventually suffer so much that they will want to leave the area \u201cvolun\u00adtarily.\u201d During the infamous flag march by right-wing settlers in Jerusalem in May, he demanded: \u201cWe must not give them human\u00adi\u00adtarian aid, we must not give them fuel (...) Our enemies deserve a bullet in the head!\u201d With state\u00adments like these, he is not only providing the Inter\u00adna\u00adtional Criminal Court with ammunition. Anti-Semites around the world have also been waiting for an oppor\u00adtunity to speak of genocide in Gaza and thus pillory Israel inter\u00adna\u00adtionally. To do so, \u201cgenocidal intent\u201d is required under criminal law, but so far this has not been proven against the government. Its stated goal has been to destroy the terrorist organi\u00adzation Hamas so that something like what happened on October 7, 2023, can \u201cnever happen again.\u201d It is morally and legally justified in doing so. However, enforcing this is proving more difficult than expected. Ben Gvir\u2019s statement is now sowing doubt worldwide, even among Israel\u2019s few remaining friends: Is Netanyahu\u2019s government really primarily concerned with destroying Hamas, or does it rather intend to expel the Pales\u00adtinians from Gaza?<\/p>\n

IPC report: Famine in Gaza<\/h2>\n

These doubts have now been given new fuel: the latest IPC report, the so-called Integrated Food Security Phase Classi\u00adfi\u00adcation, has declared Gaza to be in a state of level 5 famine. The report takes into account all data from inter\u00adna\u00adtional organi\u00adza\u00adtions such as the FAO, WHO, USAID, UNICEF, the World Food Program, and the German GIZ. In order to classify a situation as famine, three very strict criteria must be met:<\/p>\n

1. extreme food insecurity affecting at least 20% of households,
\n2. acute malnu\u00adtrition affecting more than 30% of children, and
\n3. a signif\u00adicant mortality rate caused by hunger or malnutrition.<\/p>\n

The report states: \u201cAfter 22 months of relentless conflict, over half a million people in the Gaza Strip are facing catastrophic condi\u00adtions charac\u00adterized by hunger, misery, and death.\u201d It therefore makes an alarming demand: \u201cAs this famine is entirely man-made, it can be stopped and reversed. The time for debate and hesitation is over; hunger is already present and spreading rapidly. No one should doubt that an immediate and large-scale response is required.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rarely has there been such a harrowing document, and rarely have inter\u00adna\u00adtional organi\u00adza\u00adtions made such a unanimous and alarming attempt to shake the inter\u00adna\u00adtional community awake. The Israeli government still denies that there is a famine in Gaza, but its arguments are uncon\u00advincing. Even the \u201cfoundation\u201d hastily set up by the government a few months ago, the GHF (Gaza Human\u00adi\u00adtarian Foundation), with its four distri\u00adb\u00adution centers and barely more than 25 truck\u00adloads per day, is nowhere near capable of adequately supplying the 2.2 million people in Gaza \u2013 not to mention that it does not adhere to basic principles of human\u00adi\u00adtarian aid such as neutrality, impar\u00adtiality, and indepen\u00addence. At least 500\u2013600 trucks per day would be needed to ensure supplies.<\/p>\n

It is therefore high time to finally take action. How should the inter\u00adna\u00adtional community respond? And how should the German government respond\u2014after all, Israel\u2019s security is Germany\u2019s declared raison d\u2019\u00e9tat? Are sanctions, or even a boycott and arms embargo against Israel, or the inter\u00adna\u00adtional procla\u00admation of a Pales\u00adtinian state\u2014as called for by the UN initiative of Macron and Saudi Arabia\u2014the right response to a famine in Gaza? If the UN does indeed recognize a Pales\u00adtinian state by resolution in September, this would perhaps be an important step for the Pales\u00adtinians \u2013 but in the end, it would only be symbolic politics. The current Israeli government will hardly care; rather, it will exploit such demands domes\u00adti\u00adcally against the opposition. For the people on the ground, however, nothing will really change until both sides to the conflict agree on a two-state solution \u2013 in other words, after a process of negotiation.<\/p>\n

A future for Israelis and Pales\u00adtinians only without Hamas<\/h2>\n

Based on past experience with such demands, it is doubtful that they will be successful. Instead, the focus of all consid\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtions must be on what will actually help the people in Gaza and what measures will bring the Israeli hostages back to Israel from Gaza. It should not be a matter of pandering to voters \u201cat home\u201d: If, for example, one calls for an arms embargo, as German Chancellor Merz recently announced for Gaza, one also needs a clear answer as to how Hamas can then be disarmed and defeated.<\/p>\n

After all, Hamas is also respon\u00adsible for the hunger of its own population: according to Hamas, the Pales\u00adtinians in Gaza are currently dying an honorable \u201cmartyr\u2019s death.\u201d More than 80 percent of trucks carrying human\u00adi\u00adtarian aid for the population of the Gaza Strip are looted by Hamas or other marauding gangs. These are the official figures from the United Nations. If more aid is allowed into Gaza \u2013 which is urgently needed \u2013 a protection concept for these deliv\u00aderies is also needed to ensure that the aid actually reaches the people and is not hijacked by Hamas. Once again, the United Nations must not shy away from this debate.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, it is completely unreal\u00adistic and unfea\u00adsible to build a \u201cdemoc\u00adratic and demil\u00adi\u00adta\u00adrized Pales\u00adtinian state\u201d with Hamas, as demanded by all UN resolu\u00adtions: Hamas will fight such a prospect of a two-state solution with terror until the very end. The Hamas leaders have just made this clear once again from exile.<\/p>\n

Truth is the first casualty of war<\/h2>\n

What exactly is happening in the Gaza war? We will only be able to answer this question fully in retro\u00adspect, after the war has ended \u2013 if at all. One thing is clear: no peaceful state can be built on the ruins of a completely destroyed Gaza Strip and on the backs of half a million starving children and adults, as well as thousands of dead and injured. And the hostages can only be \u201cbrought home\u201d \u2013 as Israeli demon\u00adstrators are demanding \u2013 if there is first a ceasefire and a hostage deal as soon as possible. But that also means that Hamas\u2019s terror must continue to be fought \u2013 albeit with other means. At the same time, however, the people in Gaza must now be provided with the neces\u00adsities of life, the Israeli hostages must be freed through a hostage deal, and Gaza and the West Bank must finally be given a political perspective.<\/p>\n

The latter, however, lies primarily in the hands of the Israeli and Pales\u00adtinian people \u2013 ultimately, they must finally elect govern\u00adments that have an interest in peace between the peoples of the Middle East.[\/vc_column_text][vc_separator][vc_column_text]Hat Ihnen unser Beitrag gefallen? Dann spenden Sie doch einfach und bequem \u00fcber unser Spendentool. Sie unter\u00adst\u00fctzen damit die publizis\u00adtische Arbeit von LibMod.<\/p>\n

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