As the world confronts the moral collapse unfolding in Gaza and the dangerous entrenchment of unilateralism in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the international community is beginning to coalesce around a long-delayed imperative: formal recognition of the state of Palestine.

What was once considered a diplomatic outlier — recognition of Palestinian statehood outside the framework of direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations — is now gaining legitimacy as a necessary corrective to decades of political stagnation and asymmetry.

July’s international conference on the two-state solution, co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and France at the UN headquarters in New York, was a critical inflection point in the global approach to the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

Countries such as France, Malta, Spain, Ireland and even the UK have either formally recognized a Palestinian state or declared their readiness to do so. Such actions are not merely symbolic gestures, they are a collective geopolitical recalibration, an assertion that the Israeli strategy of permanent occupation and settlement expansion is incompatible with international law, regional stability and basic morality.

It is no longer tenable to continue placating Israeli defiance by treating Palestinian sovereignty as a negotiable commodity. For years, Western powers, led by the US, have clung to the illusion that statehood must be the end product of bilateral negotiations — a formula that effectively handed Israel the power of veto over the very existence of Palestine. In practice, this posture enabled Israel to construct an irreversible reality on the ground: the annexation of land, building of settlements, and fragmentation of Palestinian society.

But a growing number of countries are now rejecting that logic. They understand that Palestinian self-determination is not a gift to be granted, it is a legal and moral right enshrined in the UN Charter and countless international resolutions.

Recognition of Palestinian statehood is therefore not a reward to be handed out for good behavior or used as a bargaining chip; it is an act to rectify historical injustice and realign global diplomacy with its own professed principles.

The momentum building in Europe is particularly instructive. France, traditionally cautious on the issue, is now at the forefront of this diplomatic shift. Ireland and Spain, longtime advocates for Palestinian rights, have already shifted from rhetoric to action. Malta has followed suit, and the British Parliament has witnessed growing calls for recognition of Palestine, with many MPs now urging the government to match its verbal commitment to a two-state solution with a concrete policy to achieve it.

This surge in recognition efforts also carries real strategic weight. It signals a broader divergence from a decades-old transatlantic consensus, dominated by Washington, that has consistently blocked the admission of Palestine to the UN as a full member (it currently has observer status), and shielded Israeli authorities from accountability at the International Criminal Court for their actions.

By recognizing the State of Palestine without Israeli consent, these nations are not only challenging an obsolete consensus, they are actively reshaping it.

Indeed, the cumulative effect of these recognitions could transform the diplomatic landscape; they help strengthen the Palestinian Authority’s claim to full sovereignty, and enable greater Palestinian participation in multilateral institutions.

Enhanced status at the UN and other international organizations would empower Palestinians to bring legal claims against Israeli authorities for their actions, including those related to settlement expansion, war crimes and the blockade on Gaza. This would subject Israel’s conduct to international scrutiny in ways it has long sought to avoid.

Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have all stepped forward to provide aid to Gaza, distinguishing themselves as regional powers committed not only to humanitarian relief but to a recentering of the Palestinian issue in global discourse. This Arab engagement is not peripheral, it is foundational to any long-term regional solution.

But the central question remains: Will Israel and the US bow to this evolving international consensus? All the signs suggest they will continue to resist, at least in the short term. The Netanyahu government, propped up by a coalition of ultranationalists and religious extremists, continues to treat Palestinian statehood as an existential threat rather than a diplomatic necessity.

Its response to international recognition efforts has been to double down on its own maximalist policies: expansion of settlements, tightening of its grip on East Jerusalem, and now the expansion of its unrelenting military campaign in Gaza that has shocked even its closest allies.