My dream for Palestinian statehood

Time to make amends?

With the staunchly pro-Israel Donald Trump assuming office in January, now might be time for Biden to make amends as the first US president to recognise a Palestinian state, aligning with the vast majority of the international community. Washington would finally come down on the right side of history. More importantly, it would create a new reality that the incoming Trump administration would find difficult to ignore.

The timing of any such action by the Biden administration is crucial given Trump's unabashedly pro-Israel record during his first term, when he moved the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, recognised Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, declared that Israel was not an occupying force in the West Bank, defunded the UN agency supporting Palestinians, withdrew the US from UNESCO (because it had taken positions with which Israel disapproved), halted US economic aid to the Palestinian Authority, and closed the Palestinian Mission in Washington. 

Such action by Biden would have precedent. In 2016, in the final days of Barack Obama's tenure, the outgoing president abstained from Resolution 2234, allowing it to pass. This demanded that Israel "immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem" because "the cessation of all Israeli settlement activities is essential for salvaging the two-state solution". 

Obama had spent his eight years in office being frustrated by Netanyahu's evasion of any meaningful gesture towards the realisation of the two-state solution—one that he had professed support for in a 2009 speech at Bar Ilan University. So, with just days left in power, Obama let 2234 pass. 

Crucially, this said Israeli settlements built in Palestinian territory since 1967, including East Jerusalem, "have no legal validity and constitute a flagrant violation under international law". Its effect turned out to be symbolic only—the incoming Trump administration proceeded to take all actions in support of Israeli sovereignty over occupied Arab lands—but it laid down a marker. 

Now, Biden could follow Obama's lead. If a Security Council resolution in the coming days were to recognise a Palestinian state and admit it as a full UN member, Biden could order the US representative to abstain.  If he did so, it would be inconceivable that France or the UK would veto it—as both countries already have indicated that they would support the recognition of a Palestinian state in principle. 

This would provide a boost for the Palestinian people and would mean that the Security Council could declare any further Israeli settlement of military bases on Palestinian land as violations of sovereignty. It would also add to the legal pressure on Israel. An advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice has ruled that Israel's occupation of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem is illegal, while the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former defence minister, Yoav Gallant.

Read more: ICC issues arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant; what Europe does next is important

Honour in abstention

Abstaining on any UN Security Council resolution recognising a Palestinian state would be one of the most significant moments of Biden's presidency and would leave Israel open to an array of legal redress over its actions.

This would not make up for the complicity of the US in the unjustified and tragic loss of life in Gaza and Lebanon, but it would send a clear message internationally (and to Israel) that a Palestinian state is inevitable, emboldening all Israelis who wish to live in peace with their Palestinian neighbours. 

If Biden did so, he would do the Israeli people a huge and historic favour (even though Netanyahu's government would never see it that way). He would be helping them escape from the dystopian idea of an apartheid state stretching at least from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River. 

If my dream is realised—admittedly a big 'if'—change will still take time. The dream King enunciated so eloquently in front of tens of thousands in 1963 is still to fully materialise. A Palestinian state will not be born the day after.

Alas, it is far more likely that Biden will do no such thing, meaning that he will go down in history as the US president who helped Israel commit genocide against the Palestinian people. Because in Gaza, there are no dreams—only nightmares.