Opinion
Lara Marlowe: As more states recognise Palestine, the Middle East faces dystopian and utopian possibilities
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Eleven more countries have just recognised a sovereign state of Palestine in a desperate attempt to prevent Israel completing the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people and salvage the diplomatic goal of a two-state solution.
They include Australia, Britain and Canada and five EU countries, chief among them France.
Israel and the US threatened retaliation and condemned the wave of recognitions as a symbolic and “anti-Semitic” gesture that “rewarded terror”.
“The time has come,” French president Emmanuel Macron repeated a dozen times at the United Nations on Monday night. The Trump administration violated the 1947 Headquarters Agreement by refusing to allow Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority (PA), to travel to New York.
“The worst can happen,” Macron warned, listing present dangers: the continued slaughter of Palestinians as Israeli forces take over Gaza City; the expulsion of the population of Gaza towards Egypt; Israeli annexation of the West Bank; the deaths of the last 20 of 251 Israeli hostages taken by Hamas, and Israel’s construction of the E1 or “Doomsday” settlement which will sever the West Bank in two, cutting any future Palestinian state from its intended capital, East Jerusalem.
Symbols matter. Before this week, only two of five permanent members of the Security Council recognised Palestine. The US is now the only holdout. Palestine is recognised by 158 of the UN’s 193 member states, only six short of the 164 states which recognise Israel.
It is essential to ensure this week’s events are not merely symbolic.
“Friends of Palestine appreciate the recognition, but they want to make sure it’s not a distraction from the most urgent priority which is ending the war in Gaza,” said John Lyndon, the Irishman who heads the Alliance for Middle East Peace (Allmep), a coalition of more than 170 Israeli and Palestinian civil society organisations. “Every other priority is secondary to that.”
Allmep hosted 400 Israelis and Palestinians in Paris last June to draw up a policy document entitled the Paris Call. Many of the ideas generated by Israeli and Palestinian civil society were included in the New York Declaration, the 42-point peace plan announced in July as a precursor to this week’s wave of recognitions.
[ France joins western allies in recognising Palestinian stateOpens in new window ]
As Macron noted on Monday night, it is not enough to defeat Hamas militarily. “It must be defeated on the political level for it to be truly dismantled.” The peace plan would ban and disarm Hamas and exclude it from general elections, which would be held within a year.
But that cannot happen without a ceasefire. The US has vetoed six UN Security Council resolutions calling for a ceasefire.
Macron was, until this year, considered the most pro-Israeli French president. But he has shown true leadership with his eleventh-hour attempt to save Palestine. The turning point was apparently his visit to a refugee camp at Al-Arish, in the Egyptian Sinai, last April. He could not forget the look in the eyes of the women and children he met there, he said.
France is the only EU member of the Security Council, the EU’s only nuclear power and the European country with the largest Jewish and Muslim population.
[ What is the aim of recognising a Palestinian state?Opens in new window ]
Macron’s partnership with Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman helped him win the support of the Gulf sheikhdoms and persuaded Qatar and Turkey – states which supported Hamas in the past – to abandon the extremist movement. The signatories of the New York declaration unanimously condemned the massacre by Hamas of 1,224 Israeli men, women and children on October 7th, 2023, as well as Israel’s killing of about 65,000 Gazan Palestinians.
If Israel’s far-right government and the Trump administration prevail, Israel may annex the West Bank, drive Palestinians out of Gaza and transform it into the “riviera” envisaged by Donald Trump.
On September 17th, Israel’s extremist finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said he anticipates a real estate “bonanza” in Gaza. “We have done the demolition phase, which is always the first phase of urban renewal,” he said. There is a detailed plan for the “renewal” of Gaza on Trump’s desk, Smotrich added.
Prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu insists that there will be no Palestinian state. In his “super Sparta” speech of September 16th, Netanyahu tried to sell Israelis a premonition of a semi-autarkic state that will live by the sword, in economic decline and in isolation from the world.
In ancient times, a few hundred Spartans fought the much more powerful Persian army. “The problem is that Sparta was annihilated,” columnist Ben Caspit wrote in Maariv newspaper.
Israel’s wanton use of force has endangered its association agreement with the EU, the Abraham Accords, which normalised relations with several Arab countries, and the 1978 Camp David accords which made peace between Israel and Egypt.
Soon after Israel attacked Qatar on September 9th, Saudi Arabia concluded a defence pact with nuclear-armed Pakistan. Egypt is massing troops to prevent Palestinian refugees pouring across its border with Gaza.
[ Gaza crisis dominates as world leaders meetOpens in new window ]
The Middle East now faces dystopian and utopian possibilities: the far-right’s vision of a Jewish people living in Eretz Israel void of Palestinians but permanently at war, or the flawed but infinitely preferable two-state solution proposed by France and Saudi Arabia and endorsed by most of the world’s nations.
“The dystopian vision should not be on the table because it is illegal. It’s immoral. It’s a war crime,” says John Lyndon. “The consequences of doing something like that should be so vast for Israel that it’s simply not available.”
The ultimate outcome hangs on the whim of the only person who could, should he choose to, wield authority over Netanyahu and his extremist allies: the erratic, volatile and staunchly pro-Israel president of the United States. That is not a reassuring prospect.
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It’s hard to believe it is 30 years since we were weather-bound on Tory Island. It was mid-August 1995 and a group of us from a less exposed island down the coast had decided to explore this outpost off Donegal. Part of the attraction was that it still boasted a monarchical regime whose king may not have worn a crown but boy could Patsy Dan Rodgers, the King of Tory, make music and talk the talk.
Of course, we had an anointed leader of our community with us too: The Priesht, who for the sake of diplomacy shall remain anonymous due to certain shenanigans on the deck of the boat on our return journey to Magheroarty.
The memory of that summer sojourn and the number of 16-hand reels and singing sessions until dawn came bouncing back during a recent rocky August voyage from Clare Island, my home for a time.
Ironically it happened to be on the same ferry, the Tormore, which was the Tory ferry in the mid-1990s but is now among the fleet of ferries servicing the Co Mayo island.
It was two days after Storm Floris swept in across the horizon and the seas were still recovering from her wrath. No surprise that the unseasonable weather had caused campers to run for shelter, day-trippers to cancel their planned voyages, islanders to batten down the hatches and boatmen to tighten their ropes and check their anchorages.
It also ensured that this long-time nervous sailor was hyper-vigilant of the trajectory of the storm as I obsessively checked all the apps from Wind Guru to Magicseaweed and, of course, our very own Met Éireann.
Two days later I was armed in rain gear and a look of terror on my face as I boarded the ferry with the tail end of Floris still blowing gusts of up to 65km/h.
As always, in rough sea conditions, I am more than happy to make a holy show of myself. So on this occasion I sat inside the door of the cabin, threw my arms over the back of the seat in front of me, bent my head, closed my eyes and started box-breathing.
The journey from Clare Island to the mainland is usually about 30 minutes but on occasions when the sea is lumpy and the wind is belligerent, the wise skippers “tack” into the wind or run from it, meaning the voyage is a little longer.
Every 10 minutes or so I rose from my crouched position and peered out the porthole to check for the welcome sight of land. The relief was short-lived when I finally saw the outline of the cliffs which frame Roonagh.
Suddenly, our craft slowed down and drew to a halt. Apparently, there was swell rolling into the little harbour and another island ferry, the Clew Bay Queen, was inside tied up to the pier. For safety, we needed to wait outside until she exited.
Lord almighty but that was a long 15 minutes as the Tormore’s engines revved and screeched and rocked and rolled under the cliffs awaiting a safe passage inside to the pier.
To make matters worse, what do you think swam across my memory but the trauma of that very rough voyage from Tory?
Unlike Clare Island, with its big hill, An Cnoc Mór, Tory is low-lying, nine miles off the coast and has little shelter from the whims of the ocean.
[ Saving the best for last: How the Making In symposium left an indelible markOpens in new window ]
Back in August 1995 when the winds suddenly blew up and word spread about the ferry being cancelled, we gave little thought to it. The craic was too good. There was another night of madness to be enjoyed.
However, when bleary-eyed and sleep-deprived the following morning we were told the Tormore would be departing for the mainland an hour later, it was a whole different story.
Ironically, it was us islanders who were the worst passengers. Being seasoned sailors, it must have been the experience of an ocean which appeared to have a very different modus operandi when attacking our northern coastline with strong winds. Certainly the other tourists who knew little about the Atlantic’s vagaries appeared more sane than our gang.
Turns out it wasn’t a very good idea for The Priesht to have indulged in a full Irish breakfast. Half way across he provided an entertaining spectacle of kneeling on the deck, vomiting into a bucket while one of our group threw a towel over his head, for modesty’s sake.
Every now and then he’d peep out from under his cowl and cause much mirth, shouting: “Well, that’s the fried egg” and “Here comes the black pudding.”
Three decades later with my stomach hovering in my throat, my sense of relief was visceral as our ferry turned into the pier and the crew tied its ropes.
Afterwards, I stood overlooking the pier and watched the Tormore bounce back out of the harbour with her new load of passengers. This sturdy craft has carried islanders and visitors along the wild west coast in all sorts of weather but for this seafarer the Beaufort scale must be in a benevolent mood with high pressure dominating and I don’t mean my heart rate.
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Jonathan Freedland’s analysis of the threats posed by a Reform UK government is spot-on (Trump has dragged the US to the abyss and Nigel Farage would do the same to Britain. Here’s how to stop him, 19 September). We only have to look to Trump’s America to get a pretty clear idea of what it would mean.
Freedland is also correct in his analysis of the level of support for Reform and Farage’s key policies. They do not receive anywhere near majority support: only 31% of voters support Brexit, as against 56% who want to rejoin the EU; nearly 60% want to stay in the European convention on human rights; only 31% believe migrants have undermined British culture. Yet Freedland inexplicably fails to invoke the most obvious solution to the rise of rightwing populism: reform of our voting system.
Although the most recent YouGov poll shows Reform on 28% and Labour on 20%, it also shows all “progressive” parties on at least 49% against 45% for Reform and the Conservatives combined.
Isn’t then the obvious answer to adopt a voting system that reflects voter preference? Keir Starmer has ignored the votes of Labour conference on this, and he could be forgiven, with a huge majority on roughly a third of the vote. But would Labour be so happy if the boot were on the other foot: a Reform government with 30% of the vote? Surely, the answer is a voting system that gives voters policies they actually vote for.
Barry Greatorex
Derby
My blood ran cold reading Jonathan Freedland’s piece, because his summary was so distressingly accurate. The Trump aide Stephen Miller’s remark that the Democratic party is a “domestic extremist organisation” was particularly chilling. How long before it is banned and the US becomes a truly authoritarian one-party state?
So what to do? For a start, the message should be rammed home: “Vote Farage, get Trump”, because if our current leaders are conciliatory, just imagine how supine Reform will be as the US increasingly interferes in other countries’ domestic politics.
Jennifer Rees
Cardiff
On the printed page of the Journal section, Jonathan Freedland’s call to expose the supposed popularity of far-right propaganda was placed next to your editorial on the importance of grassroots drama training. It is often working‑class actors who bring plays to the stage or screen that shift public consciousness, for example, about misogyny or the Post Office scandal.
What we need now are powerful dramas about the rise of reactionary populism and its seductive influence on so many people who do not regard themselves as – and are not – extremists (‘Go-to trope’: how the far right is exploiting violence against women and girls, 19 September).
Dr Sebastian Kraemer
London
I have sent a postcard to Nigel Farage to say that I do not need his protection.
Elizabeth Baker
Birmingham
Jonathan Freedland’s article about protecting democracy states that we all need to take action. I agree, but can he suggest how? I am happy to attend protests, but what else can I do? There is a certain feeling of individual helplessness attached to this situation.
Marilyn Adams
Bristol
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We are gravely concerned by news that doctors found guilty of rape and sexual predation have been allowed to return to medical practice after Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) hearings (Report, 18 September). This raises crucial questions about the independence, processes and ethical integrity of the MPTS and its ability to protect public health and promote trust.
A fundamental conflict of interest is the MPTS’s funding, which comes indirectly from doctors’ fees, via the doctor’s regulator, the General Medical Council. The use of subjective mitigating factors, such as “character references” and “showing remorse” can also advantage doctors.
In sharp contrast to these sexual misconduct cases, doctors participating in peaceful protests over the health harms of global heating, in accordance with overwhelming scientific evidence and their GMC-defined professional responsibility to protect public health, have faced prolonged suspensions and potential removals from practice. Yet their actions neither endanger patients nor reflect on their clinical competence.
These inconsistencies are further challenged by research the GMC itself commissioned, which found that public trust in the profession was determined primarily by whether a doctor had intentionally harmed someone, rather than the legality of their action.
To keep patients safe, disciplinary processes require urgent reform. This includes separating funding and governance structures, specialist training for tribunal panels (in, for example, trauma-informed care and the climate and health emergency), objective criteria for determining sanctions, transparent reporting, and comprehensive support for complainants.
Prof Hilary Neve
GP, Plymouth
Dr Rammina Yassaie
NHS doctor and ethicist, Leeds
Annie Mitchell
Chartered psychologist, Newton Abbot, Devon
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