Give Palestinians Something More Than Statehood Recognition

Sept. 22, 2025

A collapsed residential building in Gaza City after it was hit in an Israeli airstrike on Sept. 8.Credit...Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters

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By Mustafa Barghouti

Mr. Barghouti is the leader and a founder of the Palestinian National Initiative. He wrote from Ramallah, the West Bank.

Britain, Canada, Australia and Portugal on Sunday recognized the State of Palestine ahead of a conference this week at the United Nations. Other countries were expected to do the same during the gathering, which was designed to revive prospects for a two-state solution as a basis for peace between Palestinians and Israelis.

Recognition of Palestinian statehood — now formalized by some 150 countries — is welcome in the face of Israel’s decades-long denial of the Palestinian right to self-determination and a settlement expansion plan that “buries the idea of a Palestinian state,” as Israel’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, recently put it.

However, it is empty symbolism at best, and at worst, a distraction from a lack of action to stop Israel’s war in Gaza and the starvation and forced displacement of roughly two million Palestinians living there. Any recognition of Palestinian statehood should be accompanied by concrete action to hold Israel accountable for its illegal, destructive policies.

Further Reading: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/22/opinion/palestinian-statehood-united-nations.html