By: Mohsen Abu Ramadan – November 15, 2024

Every year on November 15, Palestinians commemorate the Declaration of the State of Palestine, proclaimed during the Palestinian National Council session held in Algiers in 1988.

This declaration was the culmination of the First Intifada—a popular uprising with a clear political and liberatory aim under the slogan “freedom and independence.”

Following this, the Israeli occupation systematically undermined any prospect of Palestinian statehood through policies of checkpoints, segregation, isolated enclaves, settlement construction, the apartheid wall, and the Judaization of Jerusalem.

The political and geographical division has further obstructed the realization of the Palestinian state, a reality exploited by Israel in an attempt to transform internal division into total separation between the West Bank and Gaza.

A powerful response to these colonial practices was the recognition of Palestine by 143 countries as a non-member observer state at the UN in 2012 through Resolution 67/19.

Another significant milestone was the recent advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice, challenging Israel’s practices.

Israel’s far-right government has used the genocidal war on Gaza to intensify settlement expansion and military incursions in the West Bank, aiming to cancel the very possibility of a Palestinian state.

The Israeli Knesset passed laws declaring the establishment of a Palestinian state as an existential threat and labeled UNRWA a “terrorist organization” as part of efforts to liquidate the refugee issue.

The Israeli government has begun preparing for the annexation of the West Bank and dividing it into bantustans—anticipating Donald Trump’s return to the White House after his recent electoral victory.

Trump’s cabinet appointments clearly reflect his unwavering support for Israel and hostility toward the Palestinian people and their legitimate rights.

While Israel prepares for Trump’s return and plans to annex the West Bank, the Palestinian internal scene remains mired in division, with no unified plan to confront the existential threats facing the nation.

Confronting these threats requires an immediate meeting of the PLO’s Central Council, with the participation of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, to reassert the declaration of Palestine as a state under occupation—based on UN Resolution 67/19 and the ICJ’s advisory opinion confirming the political, legal, and geographic unity of the West Bank, Gaza, and Jerusalem.

This should include implementing Central Council decisions from 2015 in response to Israel’s nullifying and replacement-driven policies.

Palestinian diplomacy must also be reactivated at the Arab level, reinforcing Riyadh’s initiative of linking normalization to the recognition of a Palestinian state based on the June 4, 1967 borders. This would block attempts to impose a fragile and fragmented entity—as proposed in the “Deal of the Century”—labeled a state but stripped of sovereignty and self-determination.

It is vital to continue Palestinian engagement with international legal bodies, including calls to suspend Israel’s UN membership, restore the General Assembly’s resolution equating Zionism with racism, and strengthen global grassroots solidarity efforts. These should push for boycotts and sanctions against Israel, which acts as a rogue state defying international law, committing genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.

Remaining silent during one of the most dangerous phases of attempts to eliminate the Palestinian cause is unacceptable. What is needed now is urgent action—not only to defeat Israeli and American plans but to revive the Palestinian national movement through the renewal of the Declaration of Independence.