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Arab Center of Washington DC Fellows and affiliates analyze Palestine State recognition
Washington, DC – The Arab Center Washington DC (ACW) this week released a detailed position paper on the momentum growing to recognize a Palestine State during the 80th meeting of the United Nations General Assembly.
The analysis, titled “Recognizing a Palestinian State as Gaza Still Burns,” features the opinions of several experts who offered a range of views.
The experts include: Susan M. Akram, Clinical Professor and Director of the International Human Rights Clinic, Boston University Law School; Imad K. Harb, Director of Research and Analysis; Khalil E. Jahshan, Executive Director; Laurie King, Member of the Academic Advisory Board; Yousef Munayyer, Head of the Palestine/Israel Program and Senior Fellow; and Isabel Ruck, Head of Research and Scientific Coordination, CAREP Paris.
Excerpts include:
Akram wrote, “The flurry of states recognizing Palestinian statehood may well move the needle forward, but only if they implement the critical measures they are legally required to take, including most urgently implementing a sanctions regime against Israel and bringing an end to the genocide.”
Harb noted, “The current drive at the United Nations to recognize a Palestinian state relies on a widespread acceptance of a two-state solution for which Arab countries and the international community, including the United States, have striven, until the concept has practically disappeared from American foreign policy under the Trump administration. Israel has never fully and unequivocally accepted the API or the two-state formulation, because doing so would require unacceptable concessions, specifically withdrawing from the West Bank and Gaza.”
Jahshan wrote, “Netanyahu and his supporters in Washington continue to articulate a two-pronged argument. First, a sovereign Palestinian state constitutes a direct and existential threat to the State of Israel, thus, it should be prevented at any price. Second, the emergence of an independent state of Palestine in the West Bank and Gaza, with East Jerusalem as its capital, will essentially be a manifestation of the Gaza war brought closer to the heart of Israel, a potential that could not be accepted under any circumstances.”
King observed, “In just eight months, US support for the United Nations and the post-WWII international human rights legal regime has all but disappeared under President Trump’s isolationist and imperious administration. Whereas the previous Biden administration also supported Israel without reservations, it nonetheless showed an outward display of backing for a diplomatic solution, even if that turned out to be tepid window dressing. … Speeches at the UNGA—from Trump’s rambling and embarrassing display of arrogance and hubris to Columbia’s, Turkey’s, Indonesia’s, Spain’s, and Brazil’s passionate calls for action on Gaza—show that the United States is not only isolationist but is increasingly isolated.”
Munayyer said, “As more western nations recognize the state of Palestine this week, joining the vast majority of the world that largely did the same back in the late 1980s, it is fair to ask what if anything this recognition will do. While these proclamations are historic, they leave many Palestinians bewildered and bitter. Not only did these western nations wait years to catch up with much of the rest of the world, they recognized a Palestinian state at a time when many of them are actively enabling the continued genocide of the Palestinian people by the State of Israel.”
Ruck noted, “France has just recognized a Palestinian state—after two years of near-unconditional support for Israel. Some hail it as a historic step toward justice. But the timing raises eyebrows: President Immanuel Macron is grappling with nationwide protests over pension reforms, plunging approval ratings, and unrest across the political spectrum. Is this a principled stance—or a carefully calculated political move?”
Read the full analysis, and other documents and information, by visiting the Arab Center Washington DC website at www.ArabCenterDC.org.
Arab Center Washington DC is a nonprofit, independent, and nonpartisan research organization dedicated to furthering the political, economic, and social understanding of the Arab world in the United States and to providing insight on US policies and interests in the Middle East. As a Washington-based authoritative research center on the Arab world, ACW addresses fundamental aspects of US-Arab relations through timely and objective academic research, policy analysis, and educational exchange.
ACW is affiliated with the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies (ACRPS) and its network of research centers around the world. Headquartered in Doha, Qatar, ACRPS is one of the premier independent research institutes in the Arab region.
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Contact information:
Arab Center Washington DC, 1400 K Street NW, STE 700, Washington, DC 20005, (202) 750-4000.
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Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.
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