How Palestine is Abandoned in International Relations

As the UN General Assembly draws closer, the push to recognize Israel's war crimes on an international scale grows. However, the U.S. virulently opposes any anti-Israel sentiment and will go to extreme lengths to protect its proxy in the Middle East. Thus, in order to silence a genocide, U.S Secretary of State Marco Rubio denied and revoked visas for members of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Palestinian Authority (PA). The scope of today's actions falls within a larger trend of delegitimizing the Palestinian state in international bodies. For far too long, Palestine has been forcefully absent from discussions surrounding its sovereignty, independence, and fundamental right of its peoples to exist. The state department falsely qualified its decision, stating, "The Trump administration has been clear: it is in our national security interests to hold the PLO and PA accountable for not complying with their commitments, and for undermining the prospects for peace." The U.S. perpetually pushes out propaganda, citing "Hamas" at every turn. Unfortunately, denying Palestinian authority is nothing new for the West.

Dating back to the 1940s, peace negotiations have always lacked Palestinian representation. Indeed, in the century-long conflict, "mediation gatekeeping" has only escalated. Israel's conception is possibly the clearest example of Palestine's exclusion. The U.N. General Assembly on November 29th, 1947, decided to split the Palestinian land into equal parts representing both the Jewish and Arab populations. However, after the 1948 Nakba, Palestinians were left in disarray. Instead of a single Palestinian authority speaking up for itself in armistice talks, Arab states around the area and the UN Security Council were the only ones allowed at the table. Crucially, when the armistice negotiations were over, there was no coherent Palestinian state. Instead, Israel negotiated directly with Egypt and Jordan to slowly seize more land away from the Palestinian-owned areas.

Unfortunately, the trend of others speaking on Palestine's behalf continued on in the 1970s as well. Heading into a new era, the U.S. became the primary mediator of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Crucially, that meant that the U.S controlled the narrative on the issue. Taking advantage of their powerful position, the U.S continually labeled the PLO as a terrorist organization despite various efforts from PLO leaders to gain international legitimacy. The US's repeated attacks on the PLO's credibility rendered the organization useless. The overall strategy was a continuation of decades prior: engage with Israel and Arab neighbors for diplomacy, not Palestine itself.

Finally, in 1991, Palestine gained a voice with the Oslo agreement. However, the recognition of the Palestinian government was conditional on the PLO being in power. Shortly after, once Hamas won the parliamentary elections, Israel (along with others) went back to pretending that Palestine was not an individual nation. The flawed Oslo agreement serves as a reference point for all negotiations today. Critically, Palestine was not recognized as a state during the diplomatic talks of the past two decades.

Ultimately, jumping back into the present, the U.S is employing the same strategy on Palestine that the West has relentlessly stuck to over decades. Yet, in international waters, the tide is turning. At the upcoming UN General Assembly, France plans to recognize a Palestinian State. The U.S is poised and determined to make sure that no such step will be taken. If Palestine continues to suffer from a lack of legitimacy, then it becomes easier for the international community to overlook Israel's crimes. So, the U.S does everything in its power, as proven historically, to make sure that Palestine does not get a voice. The Trump administration is just the latest example of a decades-old foreign policy maneuver.