Symbolic move: A displaced Palestinian child waving a Palestinian national flag as he walks on rubble at the Bureij camp, Gaza. Can the formal recognition of a Palestinian state by a clutch of Western nations stop Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza? — AFP
THERE’S more than one way of looking at the formal recognition of a Palestinian state by a clutch of Western nations. Even the most fervid optimists can’t pretend that this symbolic move could help impede the Gaza genocide unless words are followed by action.
Symbolism isn’t always useless. Even belated recognition by traditional Israeli allies, just as the occupying power is kiboshing the prospect of a Palestinian state, might carry some moral weight. But the gesture is meaningless as long as some of them continue to collude with the Israeli military. The United Kingdom, for one, has been directly complicit in the genocide.
