The appeals to the international community to recognize Palestine as its own state have become more and more resonant.

Although Germany has not recognized Palestine as a state, the majority of the world’s states have: 139 out of a total of 193 countries participating in the United Nations. What is important this time, however, is that recognition apparently being considered by the US, which in the past have vetoed almost every attempt to recognize Palestine as an independent country.

The UK also seems to think so, although, in the past, the country has been just as opposed to it, as has the US.

“What we need to do is give the Palestinian people a prospect of a better future, a future in which they have their own state,” British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said earlier this month.

Senior politicians in Spain, Norway and Ireland have also recently spoken out about possible recognition of the state of Palestine.

“There are more key players in the Middle East supporting a move toward a demilitarized Palestinian state today than at any time I can remember,” New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman summarized this week.

But experts caution against statements from the US and the UK, suggesting they are being leaked, or in the UK’s case, spoken out, to put pressure on an increasingly reckless Israeli government, unfazed by the growing close allies’ discomfort with his tactics in Gaza. When asked for clarification, US representatives said that for now government policies have not changed.

Why is the idea controversial?

For many Western countries, the central idea has always been that Palestinian status change would come at the end of negotiations for a “two-state solution,” where Israel and Palestine would coexist, side by side.

This is why recent statements and rumors have caused so much discussion. Some say recognizing Palestine as a state would be the first step towards a lasting and peaceful solution in this decades-long conflict. But others say that unless conditions on the ground change, recognition would be useless and would only serve to embellish the status quo, with Israel retaining all authority over Palestine.

What are the advantages;

Recognition would give Palestine more political, legal and even symbolic power. In particular, the Israeli occupation or annexation of Palestinian territory would become a more serious legal issue.

“[Μια τέτοια] change would pave the way for a permanent status between Israel and Palestine, not in the sense of concessions from the conqueror to the conquered, but negotiated by the occupied as well, between two entities which appear as equal in the eyes of international lawJosh Paul wrote in the Los Angeles Times last month.

Until recently, Paul was director of congressional relations at the US State Department, but resigned over disagreements over US policy in Gaza.

For the Palestinian Authority, which rules part of the West Bank and is part of the official representation of the Palestinian people, “the whole raison d’être is recognition,” Middle East analyst Philip Leach-Ngo told DW. “They cannot offer the Palestinian public anything less than that. They cannot stand up to Israel, they are incapable of improving the lives of Palestinians under their jurisdiction, and they are also corrupt and undemocratic. The only thing they can offer is promise of international recognition”.

“Ultimately,” Leach-Ngo continued, “state recognition would be a way of saying that the international community accepts that the Palestinian struggle is legitimate and that, given Israel’s prolonged military occupation, offers significant political capital.”

What are the disadvantages?

Recent polls show that most Israelis they do not want to see Palestine as an independent state. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been against recognition for many years. For Israelis and their international supporters, there are also fears that if Palestine is recognized as a state now, it could be interpreted as a victory for those who support violence.

The most recent conflict in Gaza began after October 7, when Hamas militants attacked Israel, killing about 1,200 people. Since then, Israel’s ongoing military campaign in the Gaza Strip has caused an estimated 28,000 deaths.

If recognition is made now, Hamas ‘likely to take credit’, Jerome Segal wrote in Foreign Policy magazine earlier this month. “[Η Χαμάς] will argue that this recognition … demonstrates that only armed struggle produces results’.