AFTER the First World War and the signing of the Treaty of Versailles many areas of the former Ottoman Empire including Palestine were placed under the Trusteeship Council of the League of Nations with Britain given the responsibility of governing Palestine as a trustee. All the former territories of the Ottoman Empire eventually became independent states except Palestine which even today is a nation without a country. The British Mandate incorporated the “Balfour Declaration” of 1917, expressing support for “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people”. During the Mandate, from 1922 to 1947, large-scale Jewish immigration, mainly from Eastern Europe took place, the numbers swelling in the 1930s with the Nazi persecution. Arab demands for independence and resistance to immigration led to a rebellion in 1937, followed by continuing terrorism and violence from both sides. UK considered various formulas to bring independence to a land ravaged by violence. In 1947, the UK turned the Palestine problem over to the UN. After looking at alternatives, the UN proposed terminating the Mandate and partitioning Palestine into two independent States, one Palestinian Arab and the other Jewish, with Jerusalem internationalized (Resolution 181 (II) of 1947).
This resolution or proposal was accepted by the Jewish leaders and rejected by the Palestinian high command. The State of Palestine had been officially declared by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) on 15 November 1988, claiming sovereignty over the internationally recognized Palestinian territories: the West Bank, which includes East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. The very recent Muslim Arab summit held in Riyadh issued a strongly worded statement calling for “Providing all forms of political and diplomatic support to the Palestinian people and to the state of Palestine for achieving Palestinian national unity and for its effective assumption of responsibilities over all occupied Palestinian territories, including Gaza Strip, unifying it with the West Bank including the city of Jerusalem” The statement also “reaffirmed the full sovereignty of the State of Palestine over occupied East Al-Quds, the eternal capital of Palestine, and rejects any Israeli decisions or measures aimed at Judaizing it and consolidating its colonial occupation of the city.”
Just as the Muslim Summit in Riyadh called for an independent state of Palestine the Israeli Foreign Minister quick on the uptake hurried forward to reject the proposal. The state of Palestine made up of the Hamas Controlled Ghaza Strip and the Hezbollah administered west Bank along with the numerous Jewish settlements in the area is not acceptable to Israel under any circumstances. It was on 13th November 1974 just fifty years ago when the founder and chairman of the PLO Yasser Arafat was greeted with a standing ovation when he called foran independent state of Palestine in the UN general assembly and now fifty years later the dream of an independent state of Palestine is still nothing but a dream.
Taking a leaf from History the 1947 UN resolution had called for two states one Jewish and one Arab Israel was established as a sovereign country in 1948 but the state of Palestine has yet to see the light of the day. In 1967 the combined armies of Egypt, Jordan Syria and Iraq suffered a decisive and humiliating defeat at the hands of Israel and Israel annexed the Sinai, Ghaza, West bank and the Golan heights. The idea of an independent Palestine with its capital at Jerusalem died its own death. The Oslo accords signed by the PLO in 1993 accorded due recognition to the state of Israel and they agreed to give up the idea of destroying Israel. The Oslo accords also granted autonomy to Ghaza and West Bank prior to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state and the return of Palestinian refugees.
The Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was brutally assassinated by a young Jewish radical for the crime of signing the US sponsored Oslo accords and then the Govt. of Benjamin Netanyahu refused to honor the Oslo accords and refused to accept the establishment of an independent Palestine. The Israeli govt. has established numerous Jewish settlements in the West Bank and has altered the demographic composition of the area. Now again after decades the Muslim Summit in Riyadh has again called for the establishment of an independent state of Palestine and the demand has been categorically rejected by Israel. The entire Muslim world is simply helpless to enforce its demands on the world community and all they can do is to pass more resolutions to condemn Israel and profess support and sympathy for the Palestinians which they have been doing for almost eighty years now. The Muslim countries of the world hold conferences and pass resolutions but these cosmetic show of sympathy can never result in an independent Palestine, Today over 75 percent members of the UN have vouched support for Palestine but today Ghaza is in ruins because of the brutal Israeli onslaught. The Palestinians are facing starvation and total ruin by the yearlong Israeli bombardment by air and on land and the myth of an independent Palestine remains a myth only.After the Election victory of Donald Trump Muslim voters in the US now hope that Trump will be able to rein in Israel and stop the genocide in Ghaza but this is wishful thinking because in the first Trump presidency the US embassy in Tel Aviv was shifted to Jerusalem and the Israeli occupation of Golan heights was recognized by the US and this is nothing but a nexus and deep understanding between Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu.
Ironically Saudi Arabia too was on the brink of recognizing Israel before the Hamas attack of 7th November 2023. Expecting Donald Trump to come to the rescue of the Palestinians is asking for too much in fact the new regime in the USA will provide more support and aid for Israel.
The Arab League, the OIC and the Muslim world have not done anything substantial for the establishment of an independent Palestine. The UN, USA and the EU appear to be backing away from their support of independent Palestine. Today the idea of an independent state of Palestine is nothing but a myth and a pipe dream.
—The writer is Professor of History, based in Islamabad.
