The US says it wants the Palestinians to have their own state – but its actions say otherwise

Spain, Ireland and Norway have recognised Palestinian state in May 2024, bringing the total number of nations to accomplish that to 144.

The United States shouldn’t be considered one of them.

The United States has officially supported a two-state solution, meaning that each Israel and a Palestinian state can be recognized as official countries, since the Clinton administration in the Nineteen Nineties. President Joe Biden reiterated this position at his July 11, 2024, press conference following the NATO summit, when he said“There is no final solution other than the two-state solution.”

However, the United States itself has consistently blocked full recognition of the Palestinian territories as a rustic – a minimum of symbolically – stopping them from becoming the 194th member state of the United Nations. Palestine has the status of a state everlasting observer at the UNwhere it is represented by the Palestinian Authority. Being a everlasting observer allows Palestine to attend most meetings but cannot vote on any international agreements or recommendations.

I’m a scholar of international affairs and a former American diplomat. Understanding this paradox requires a little bit of history.

At the starting

When the state of Israel was established in 1948, was immediately attacked by its Arab neighbors: Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, who refused to recognize its right to exist but did nothing to create a Palestinian state. The next wars and since then there was less hostility in the region.

For years, the United States has provided Israel with extensive support by way of politics, money, and military aid. At the same time, the United States has tried to help the leaders of Israel, Palestine, and the Arab countries achieve a day when all can live in peace.

The current war in Gaza has prompted Israeli politicians and others to state that Palestinian statehood debate rewards Hamas for the massacre of Israeli residents that sparked the war. But in some unspecified time in the future the war will end and the problem that sparked it will remain unresolved. And I imagine that if it shouldn’t be resolved, the end of the war shall be only temporary.

Many issues would wish to be addressed by Palestinian and Israeli politicians, in addition to leaders of other countries who help them negotiate. Three of the most significant are the borders of a Palestinian state, the right of some Palestinians to return to the land they were forced to flee in 1948, and the status of Jerusalem – which each Palestinians and Israelis insist that it be their capital.

While the U.S. has tried to promote negotiations toward peace without dictating the end result, it has long officially supported a two-state solution. Former President Donald Trump, for instance, said in 2018 that “I like the duality solution. I feel that works best… That’s my feeling.” Other presidents, like George W. Bush and Barack Obama, also tried to persuade the parties to negotiate.

Although the US government’s vision of peace theoretically includes the creation of a Palestinian state, the United States has repeatedly blocked UN attempts to upgrade Palestine’s status from observer to full member state.

This can be a symbolic change as the Palestinian state can be officially recognized as a state in the eyes of the international community, which might secure its standing in other international organizations and courts.

The United States blocked it back in April 2024, when it vetoed “Palestinian statehood resolution” in the Security Council, which must approve latest UN members. The United States is considered one of five everlasting members of the Security Council, together with France, Britain, China and Russia. Each of those countries has the right to veto any declaration or statement the council tries to make – unlike the council’s 10 other rotating members, who only have a vote.

What would the state seem like?

Because reaching an agreement on the borders of a Palestinian state and other issues shall be so difficult, effective mediation is important to achieving peace. The United States has largely lost any role on this process, but its isolated and inconsistent position.

White House spokesman explained in May 2024 that the United States mustn’t maintain its statehood “through unilateral recognition” but “through direct negotiations between the parties.”

There are two problems with this reasoning. First, 144 countries in the UN have already recognized the Palestinian state as a rusticmaking recognition less one-sided. And it was the UN that created Israel in 1948.

Secondly, Israel is currently experiencing the most extreme, right-wing government in its history. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long made it clear that he’s strongly opposed to any Palestinian state. If he agreed to even discuss the possibility of such a state, his coalition would immediately disintegrate and he himself can be forced to resign from office.

To avoid the pressure of discussing statehood, Netanyahu has for years encouraged other countries to provide Hamas with a whole bunch of hundreds of thousands of dollarsknowing that the organization would never negotiate. He did this to weaken the Palestinian Authority, which governs the West Bank and is prepared to talk.

The origin of inconsistency

So why, even before the current war in Gazahas the US refused to allow a small step – recognition of a Palestinian state at the UN – towards a two-state solution, which it claims is the only path to lasting peace? And why does the US remain in close contact with an Israeli government that can never allow it?

The explanation is easy – internal politics.

One sec 89% of American Jews said in April 2024 that they support Israel’s fight against Hamas, the war in the Gaza Strip has caused some divisions in the American-Jewish community.

American Jews have been strong supporters of the Democratic Party for many years, and the defense of Israel stays a very important issue for themBut believing that support could wane, Israel began reaching out to evangelical Christians many years ago. They are unfazed Republican Party votersUnconditional allegiance to Israel became an article of religion for lots of them.

Now Republicans and a few Democrats are competing over who’s a greater friend of Israel. When the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Arrest warrants requested in May 2024 for Netanyahu and one other Israeli leader, in addition to Hamas leaders, the House of Representatives quickly responded an unusual, bipartisan effortpassing a law that might impose sanctions on anyone who helps the ICC prosecute Israelis.

To avoid such controversial political issues, President Bill Clinton didn’t endorse a two-state solution until his final weeks in office.

Given the political realities of the ongoing war, you could ask why this matters. A Palestinian state joining the UN as a member state wouldn’t make it a rustic. Israelis and Palestinians would first have to come to an agreement. But gaining UN status would supply a glimmer of hope for individuals who dream of getting their identity recognized and their own country fulfilled.

There isn’t any way such a big policy shift could occur in the middle of a U.S. presidential election campaign. But if peace is to come, more people on each side will have to start considering in another way—and I imagine that the creation of a Palestinian state, a minimum of on paper, would help achieve that goal greater than anything the United States could do.