The governments of Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom recognized the independent and sovereign state of Palestine today. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong announced in a joint statement: “Australia’s recognition of Palestine today, alongside Canada and the United Kingdom, is part of a coordinated international effort to build new momentum for a two-state solution, starting with a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages taken in the atrocities of October 7, 2023.”
Portugal, separately, also recognized Palestine. Recognizing the State of Palestine is “the fulfillment of a fundamental, consistent, and widely agreed policy,” Portuguese Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel explained to reporters at the United Nations in New York.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu exploded, “The international community will hear from us on this matter in the coming days.” He accused the foreign leaders of giving a “prize” to Hamas. “It will not happen,” he argued. “A Palestinian state will not be established west of the Jordan River.”
Presently, 151 of the 193 member nations of the United Nations, or 78%, now recognize the State of Palestine. Many nations of the Global Majority recognized Palestine in the late 1980s. The recognitions pronounced on September 21 represent a useful development.
But will there be a physical Palestine left in existence after the genocide and starvation that Israel is inflicting upon it? The Schiller Institute’s founder and chairwoman Helga Zepp-LaRouche, in a September 6 statement, “Take Concrete Action Toward a New Era,” has proposed six major measures for adoption by the UN General Assembly, which is now in session. Among them is number 6: “Under UN General Assembly Resolution 377 (V), ‘Uniting for Peace,’ a UN Protection Force
should be sent to Gaza and the West Bank. Writes Sachs, ‘Typically, it would be the UN
Security Council that mandates a protection force, but in this case, the U.S. will block the
Security Council with its veto. There is another way.’”
The leaflet further notes: “In addition to the above, there must be a plan for reconstruction of the entire region which will require abundant amounts of energy and fresh water. Lyndon LaRouche’s 1975 Oasis Plan would be a good model.” The larger subsuming plan will create the actual preconditions for a Palestinian state to flourish.
