Recognising Palestine

April 19, 2024

Larry Stillman’s argument for recognising Palestine as a first step to peace in the region, with which I largely agree, includes one possible scenario involving a condominium.

This brought to mind the condominium established by France and Great Britain in the then New Hebrides, now Vanuatu, in 1906, lasting to independence in 1980.

Those who lived through it usually referred to it as the “pandemonium”.

The aftermath of the chaos was still evident when I lived there in the early 1990s, and it’s hard to see how such an arrangement would work in a much more fraught environment.

Given the separation of Gaza from the West Bank, it’s also hard to see how a united Palestine would operate effectively.

Whatever the arrangement, it seems clear that recognising Palestine is essential.

Until that happens, Palestinians will always be regarded as lacking and with fewer rights than others.

Palestinian refugees who have been locked up as stateless persons in Australia’s detention camps would also have at least some chance of a future.