Western nations recognize Palestinian state

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MYRNA BROWN, HOST: It’s Tuesday the 23rd of September.

Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Myrna Brown.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher.

First up, Palestinian statehood.

SOUND: [Bell chiming at UN Summit]

On Monday, France joined the United Kingdom, Canada, and other Western nations in formally recognizing a state of Palestine.

MACRON (French): It is also in this framework that I could decide to establish an embassy with the State of Palestine, as soon as all the hostages held in Gaza have been freed and a ceasefire has been established. France's demands on Israel will be no less great.

French President Emmanuel Macron saying his nation would establish an embassy to Palestine but that there are conditions: the embassy will open after Hamas disarms and after it releases hostages, and after Israel declares an immediate cease-fire.

BROWN: One day earlier, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese explained his country’s change in position.

ALBANESE: This is the best chance the world has had in decades to disarm and isolate Hamas and deliver self-determination for the people of Palestine.

Great Britain and others also expect the Palestinian Authority to clean house and hold elections within one year after a cease-fire.

EICHER: The U.S. and Israel boycotted Monday’s two-state summit.

GOLDBERG: This is a political statement. It's a political move.

BROWN: Richard Goldberg is a senior advisor for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and former member of the National Security Council staff. He spoke with our Washington producer Harrison Watters.

GOLDBERG: It's supposed to put some sort of pressure on Israel, reward the Palestinians and and, you know, evoke some response that's positive to their own domestic base.

EICHER: For decades, the UK and other Western nations joined the U.S. in supporting the idea of a two-state solution, watchful that Palestinian statehood could come only with Israel’s security assured. Britain, France, and others have long been strategic trade and military allies. But with shifting political winds at home, Goldberg says support for Israel no longer carries the same weight.

BROWN: Goldberg says that before the idea of a functioning state can go forward, Palestinians need to show they can govern themselves.

GOLDBERG: Nothing has been done to warrant the recognition of a Palestinian state. Certainly it feels like rewarding Hamas for October 7 still.

BROWN: That’s the US position. Last month, the U.S. State Department blocked visas for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and dozens of other Palestinian officials to travel to New York.

GOLDBERG: What the Trump administration has said is, first of all, there's not state actors. They're not heads of state. So there's no head of state exception, you know, pursuant to the UN Headquarters treaty that we are supposed to acknowledge and abide by, by hosting the United Nations in New York, you don't have any right to be here.

EICHER: So the General Assembly voted to invite Abbas to address the UN by video. For Palestinian Christians, the growing number of countries that recognize a state of Palestine is more symbolic than substantive.

ABRAHAM: It would mean much more if we get recognized by the, the global church, rather than the global states.

BROWN: Fares Abraham is a Palestinian Christian from Bethlehem living in the U.S. Abraham says Palestinian Christians are often overlooked when Western nations consider policies in the region.

EICHER: Abraham complains that after the Hamas attacks on October 7th, Christians around the world stood in solidarity with the Jewish people. But not so much for Palestinian Christians caught in the crossfire.

ABRAHAM: Fast forward two years, and the silence of the same churches and the same leaders is deafening, and to them, it doesn't seem that Palestinian Christians exist.

BROWN: As diplomats meet in New York, policy expert Richard Goldberg is skeptical of any breakthroughs happening this year.

GOLDBERG: I think we actually also are at a moment where we question the integrity of the UN system right now and its lack of neutrality in a conflict between a member of the United Nations, a democracy in the State of Israel, and a terrorist organization.

Fares Abraham says true peace will come from God and Christians have the opportunity to help.

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