The Brief, No. 69
21 September, 2025
Hereunder is what will make the creation of a Palestinian state an almost impossible mission to achieve. Secondly, why most Palestinians are less enthusiastic about the recognition of the “Palestinian state” by many European countries:
- The occupation and displacement of the Palestinians did not start on 07 October 2023. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forcibly removed - from their homes and land by the Zionists in 1948 - in what is referred to by the Palestinians as al Nakba, a catastrophe.
- The Palestinians have been fighting for the right to return to their homes and land ever since. Al Nakba resulted in mass killings of Palestinians and large-scale displacement of more than 700 000 people. The displacement and killing of the Palestinians continued during the “Arab-Israeli Wars” in 1967, 1973 and 1982. Displaced Palestinians live in harsh conditions in refugee camps in neighboring Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and in Egypt. They are stateless, without appropriate documentation to access government facilities, work and travel.
- Moreover, there are additional hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who remain internally displaced and live under unbearable conditions in Israel (Palestine 1948) West Bank and in Gaza. These are Palestinians who never left Palestine and remained internally displaced including in what is today Israel. What will happen to them and their aspirations should a Palestinian state be created?
- Significantly, geographically; the Palestinian state will simply be impossible to establish given the realities on the ground. Israel has continued to build illegal Jewish settlements in the land that was designated to become a Palestinian state. What is a reality today in “Palestine” are pockets of enclaves surrounded by red roofed illegal Jewish settlements.
- Lastly, the approval of plans to further expand illegal settlements and commitment of the ultra-rightwing politicians led by the Finance Minister of Israel, Bezalel Smotrich, to ethnically cleanse the Palestinians, makes it impossible to establish anything resembling a state.
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