Recognizing Palestinian Statehood Is the Floor. Liberation Must Be the Ceiling.
One by one, nations formally recognized the State of Palestine. But what does that mean with Gaza reduced to rubble?
Hend Salama Abo Helow
This story was originally published by Truthout.
Since I first opened my eyes to this world as a third-generation refugee, I was taught that the notorious Balfour Declaration had brought upon us this long, unrelenting history of suffering. Issued in 1917, the statement declared the British government’s support for the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine. It blatantly denied our existence in our own homeland, instead granting the Jewish people the right to establish their nation on land that is ours — under cover of the myth of “a land without a people for a people without a land.” Our homeland, with its people, was then presented on a gilded plate to Zionist militias and, eventually, the state of Israel, both of which wasted no time in massacring and displacing the Indigenous population during the Nakba and beyond.
It’s well known that the Balfour Declaration gave those who did not own the right to cut, divide, and distribute the land to those who did not deserve. Yet, 108 years later, the same country that once endorsed this promise has now recognized the State of Palestine, stressing our right to self-determination on our own land and cautioning against Israel’s expansionist intentions in the West Bank.
Britain was not the first of its ilk to make such a declaration, but it is the one most stained by the Palestinian struggle. One hundred forty-three countries — among them Spain, Ireland, Norway, and Slovenia — have already stepped onto the right side of history. Now, France, Canada, and Australia have followed suit, with others expected to join soon.
These measures might seem like a long-overdue correction — but these gestures are nothing more than ink on paper if they aren’t followed by immediate action to address nations’ legal obligations: fully ending the bloodshed across Palestine, enforcing an arms embargo, breaking Israel’s blockade, dismantling the occupation, severing ties with the oppressor, and elevating the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Even when the ceasefire came into effect, that was far from being the endgame, but a prelude toward achieving Palestinians’ sovereignty over our own land. Ceasefire shouldn’t stall the wheel of advocacy but fuel it.
I cannot deny how crucial this historic turning point is, and I welcome it. Still, it is belated, lukewarm action. It should not have taken 77 years of dispossession, 58 years of occupation, six wars on Gaza, and two years of an ongoing genocide to simply recognize our self-determination. I cannot help but hold a cautious optimism that the world’s so-called “rules-based order” still has a moral compass. But it came at the cost of over 67,000 Palestinian lives — an official count that gravely underrepresents the truth. In reality, it has been projected that hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and far more injured. Ninety percent of Gaza’s residential buildings have been reduced to rubble; more than a million people displaced from their homes. The aggression has targeted not only lives, but also Gaza’s educational, cultural, historical, and social fabric — kidnapping and brutally torturing thousands in Israeli dungeons whose whereabouts remain unknown. This recognition came at the expense of maiming nearly all means of life in Gaza City — a city that had flourished for more than 5,000 years. And yet, it seems the world only began to see Gaza when it was reduced to ashes.
This recognition cannot undo the devastation already wrought, nor soothe the pain that burns in the hearts of those who lost their loved ones, nor reassure the families of Palestinian prisoners. It won’t erase our bleeding memories nor heal our fettering scars. Yet, it may still pave the way toward a better future — one in which Palestinians, just Palestinians, can exercise their unalienable right to self-determination on their own land. These governments’ decision to recognize Palestine is not a spur of the moment idea, nor did it come overnight. I believe it is a groundswell born of the pressure that their nations have exerted on them — citizens who took to the streets, who risked their lives on the frontlines, and who demanded an end to this carnage and to the decades-long occupation.
Still, the amount of time it took to grant this recognition did not come as a surprise to me. It took the world two years of a genocide just to name it a genocide — and even now, some still debate whether it meets the “genocidal criteria” or dismiss the violence done to us as mere exaggeration. Sadly, we have grown accustomed to silence, complicity, both-sides-ism, and even indifference in response to our pleas for ceasefire.
In September 2025, the International Association of Genocide Scholars finally declared that what is happening in Gaza is genocide, citing Article II of the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Shortly after, the UN Commission of Inquiry released a 72-page report condemning Israel for its genocidal acts in the enclave. Yet now, as Gaza enters its third year bearing the impacts of the genocide inflicted by Israel, I found myself deeply disappointed that such recognition took too long — and deep down I know that turning that recognition into reality will take even longer.
Even the declaration of famine came only after crippling loss, despite abundant proof. It took the deaths of hundreds of people from grinding malnutrition and starvation for the leading global food security initiative to finally classify Gaza as being in the fifth stage of hunger (“catastrophe” or “famine”). This grim belated statement alone debunks the hollow claim that has been regularly parroted by Israeli officials: “There is no famine in Gaza.”
Each advancing step toward acknowledging the broader truth — that Gaza is being annihilated and systematically obliterated — has been long deferred, debated, and doubted, only to arrive far too late to match the depth of the world’s long silence.
Yet finally, the long-awaited, much-needed ceasefire has taken effect. It may not have come with triumphs, nor with a liberated Palestine, but it preserves the soul of Gaza — Gazans themselves, who always will rise to rebuild what the world has allowed to burn.
We remain wholeheartedly grateful to those who stood firm against the genocidal machine — to the nations that made this gesture possible, and to countries like South Africa, one of the leading voices of advocacy for Palestine, which carried an unprecedented judicial case against Israel before the International Court of Justice. Back in 1994, when South Africa was freed from racial domination and a long history of apartheid, Nelson Mandela stated with determination: “Our freedom is incomplete until the freedom of the Palestinians.” This stipulation has not emanated from performative activism or support. It has risen from a joint history of struggle for liberation and sovereignty that both of our peoples have waged.
While our homeland Palestine is still under occupation, it is nonetheless a state — one whose independence was already declared by the Palestinian Liberation Organization back in 1988. Our right to exist and to self-determination is irrefutable. This international recognition may be meant to atone for a historic injustice, but it will remain meaningless unless followed by real action. Still, better late than never.
