Honest Question: Does Israel Recognize Palestine's Right To Exist?

With the impending invasion of Rafah, an honest look at history concludes the answer is no—and the horrifying receipts of Israel's opposition are plentiful

A December 8, 1988 New York Times report reads, “Yasir Arafat said today that the Palestine Liberation Organization accepted the existence of the state of Israel.”

This statement was reaffirmed in 1993. This year of 2024 marks 36 years that Palestinian leadership has been unequivocal that they recognize the right of Israel to exist, and seek an equitable and fair two-state solution. Instead, seven American administrations later and Palestinians, and the world, have only seen regression.

For example, illegal Israeli settlements have exploded across occupied Palestine from around 100,000 in 1988 to more than 600,000 now, all with seemingly silent approval from President Biden, and all with no hint of slowing down.

Likewise, on ​May 14, 2018 the United States shifted its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, contrary to international norms and understanding. This provocation reflected a complete dismissal of Palestinian Muslims living in Palestine and Israel—and indeed dismisses the view held by most of the world. This move ignored Palestinian Christians—who called the move “dangerous and insulting.” It also ignored most Jews—80% of them—who opposed the move from Tel Aviv.

Palestinians have pleaded their humanity with peaceful protest, and instead suffered massive, violent, and disproportionate consequences as a result. The UN reports that during the 2018 Great March for Return, for example:

Israeli forces responded by shooting tear gas canisters, some of them dropped from drones, rubber bullets and live ammunition, mostly by snipers. As a result, 214 Palestinians, including 46 children, were killed, and over 36,100, including nearly 8,800 children have been injured. One in five of those injured (over 8,000) were hit by live ammunition.[1] During the same period, one Israeli soldier was killed and seven others were injured during the demonstrations.

These unarmed victims include the disabled and at least eight children, including 8 month old Leila Anwar al-Ghandour.

Israel justified the hundreds of Palestinian deaths by claiming it was merely “defending its borders,” but this too is a misdirection. More than 75 years after its creation Israel has still not defined its borders, refuses to do so despite repeated demands, and continues to move them unilaterally to fit its needs. Neither did the previous, nor has the current White House administration challenged Israel’s constant border advancement, even as they lead to more illegal settlements. Instead, the previous administration profited​ ​off of them.

Still, as recently as 2012, Israel’s own Supreme Court ordered the Israeli government to dismantle its illegal settlements. Similarly, the UN Security Council concluded in 2016:

Israel’s establishment of settlements in Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, had no legal validity, constituting a flagrant violation under international law and a major obstacle to the vision of two States living side-by-side in peace and security, within internationally recognized borders.

All of this was to no avail, as illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land continue unabated even now in 2024.

And in this current siege on Gaza, one in which the ICJ ruled near unanimously ordering Israel to prevent genocide, critics of Palestine deflect by citing Hamas. As if to ignore Israel’s violent decades long military occupation, its refusal to define its boundaries, and its illegal settlements altogether, the focus remains on Hamas in the Gaza strip.

So what do we do about Hamas?

First we must understand the root cause of how Hamas came to be? It’s critical to note that while Israel was created in 1948, Hamas did not exist until nearly 40 years later in 1987. In other words, Hamas is not the historical provocation, it is the reaction. The demands of Palestinians for fairness, equity, and a right to return home far precede Hamas. I’ve been on and remain on record condemning Hamas’s war crimes on October 7, prosecution before the ICC for war crimes, and demanding unconditional return of all hostages. And this brings me to the second point.

Second, we have to understand how Hamas has persisted? Accordingly, I have yet to see any meaningful condemnation or accountability of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu for openly declaring his efforts to prop up and help fund Hamas to delegitimize the PLO and prevent peaceful resolution. These aren’t my words, but that of Israeli leadership and Netanyahu himself, as reported by The Times of Israel:

Most of the time, Israeli policy was to treat the Palestinian Authority as a burden and Hamas as an asset. Far-right MK Bezalel Smotrich, now the finance minister in the hardline government and leader of the Religious Zionism party, said so himself in 2015. According to various reports, Netanyahu made a similar point at a Likud faction meeting in early 2019, when he was quoted as saying that those who oppose a Palestinian state should support the transfer of funds to Gaza, because maintaining the separation between the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza would prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Third, we have to understand why the current strategy of bombing Gaza into oblivion hasn’t forced Hamas to return the hostages? Only three hostages have been released due to bombing, and more than 130 due to diplomacy. Therefore, I have yet to see condemnation of Netanyahu for thwarting hostage release, as attested to by the families of the hostages themselves. They place the failure to release hostages squarely on Netanyahu’s shoulders, who rejected an offer by Hamas to release all hostages in exchange to stop an invasion of Gaza. If hostages really were the top priority, then Netanyahu would have availed the opportunity to get them released months ago, demanded prosecution of Hamas at the ICC, and stopped the funding of Hamas. All of that is in Israel’s control to pursue, none of it has been pursued by Israel. It is therefore no wonder that Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan is held captive in Gaza, angrily said:

Netanyahu is leading the State of Israel to complete failure. Stop cooperating, overthrow the government and save the hostages and the country.

Repeating “but what about Hamas” without first understanding why it was created, how it continues to be funded, and why the hostages haven’t been released, is to ask a question without being willing to apply the proven answer. That gets us no closer to peace, and only perpetuates more war. But that exactly is the path Netanyahu has taken throughout his tenure in Israeli politics.

Indeed, Netanyahu has made no secret of his intent to prevent a Palestinian state at all costs. Again The Times of Israel reports:

Netanyahu boasts of thwarting the establishment of a Palestinian state ‘for decades.’ PM says his opposition to Palestinian statehood has only intensified since Oct. 7, vows Israel to ‘maintain full security control over all territory west of the Jordan River.’

The Times of Israel additionally quotes Netanyahu as saying:

I am the only one who will prevent a Palestinian state in Gaza and [the West Bank] after the war.

This destructive rhetoric only emboldens Hamas, harms Palestinians and Israelis, and delays the potential of peace. With each passing day Israeli leadership seems only more emboldened in working to permanently prevent a Palestinian state. But this is nothing new. In December of 1988 when Yasir Arafat publicly declared that the PLO recognizes the right of Israel to exist, the New York Times reported, “His statement, which he presented as a milestone, was immediately dismissed in Israel and greeted coldly by the United States.”

Nearly four decades later Palestine continues to recognize the right of Israel to exist, yet suffers continued harm and destruction. The peaceful Great March of Return was met with a violent response. The BDS movement has been criminalized in more than 37 states in America. The US Government has cut UNRWA funding despite zero evidence of Palestinian wrongdoing. The US Government has likewise banned the PLO from taking its case to the ICC despite ample evidence of Israeli wrongdoing. Meanwhile, Israeli human rights organization B’TSelem reports that thousands of Palestinians, including hundreds of children, remain indefinitely in Israeli prison without charge or conviction, suffering physical and sexual abuse.

Are they not hostages, too?

Palestinians cannot peacefully march, cannot peacefully boycott, cannot peacefully appeal to the ICC, cannot peacefully get UNRWA aid during a famine, cannot peacefully demand the return of their children in Israeli prisons, cannot get accountability for mass graves, and cannot get accountability for being bombed more than 200 times in a safe zone. And meanwhile, Palestinians are expected to negotiate with an occupying force, Israel, which is proudly on record that it will never recognize the right of Palestine to exist, continues to build illegal settlements in the West Bank, and even now is on the cusp of invading Rafah.

Over the past six months alone Israeli bombing has killed 34,000 Palestinians in Gaza, 70% of whom are women and children, and destroyed or damaged all 356 schools and 12 universities in Gaza. The IDF has killed at least 427 more Palestinians in the West Bank, and Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians continue to increase. Palestinian Civil defense forces have discovered three mass graves in Gaza of more than 700 bodies, including hospital patients, people who were bound when executed, with some bodies indicating signs of torture and being buried alive. Horrifyingly, the Israeli government has dismissed these atrocities as “fake news.” World Central Kitchen, the New York Times, and NBC News all attest to Israel deliberately bombing and killing Palestinian civilians in areas it specifically ordered them to go to as safe zones—hundreds of times. As you might expect, deliberately bombing civilians is a war crime.

Which returns us to answer the original question: No, Israel does not recognize the right of Palestine to exist. Therefore, we must stop operating under the falsehood that Israel is engaged in fair dealing, and ask the right question going forward. Given that Israel refuses to recognize Palestinian statehood and right to self-determination, what will the global community (ahem, the United States) do to ensure meaningful justice and accountability before the next 34,000 Palestinians are killed, before the next 600,000 illegal settlements are built, and before the dream of a Palestinian state is lost forever?