Palestinians in the West Bank fear are not enough

In Ramallah – the actual Palestinian capital of the occupied West Bank – a lot of Western recognition of the Palestinian state is very few, very late.

“I am really happy with the presence of people who can see our suffering in Palestine and understand the problems we face,” says Dia, 23, who did not want to give his full name.

“But while recognition is important, what we really need is solutions.”

This city is home to government buildings, diplomatic missions, and a sprawling presidential palace.

But for many Palestinians, the dream remains that East Jerusalem – a few miles south, but is largely severed by the Israeli separation barrier – can become its capital under two international solutions, which will create an independent Palestine in the West Bank and a gas tape, alongside Israel.

He is however Target The United Kingdom, France, Australia, Canada, Portugal, Belgium, Malta, Luxembourg, Andora, and Monaco announced official recognition of the state of Palestine in The United Nations General Assembly in New York this week.

“Confession is positive after all this time,” says Kamal Dawood, 40, on Ramallah Street. “But without international pressure, it will not be enough.”

He says: “If the confession comes without giving us our rights.” “Then nothing more than ink on paper.”

Israel described the Western move as a “reward for terrorism”. On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated that “there will be no Palestinian state” – while extremists in his ruling alliance went further, with Israel’s calls to join the West Bank directly.

“The only response,” Advanced Finance Minister Bizalil Soutrich wrote, is “removing the foolish idea of ​​a Palestinian state from the agenda to eternity.”

The United Kingdom and Germany say they warned Israel against the annexation, while the United Nations Secretary -General Antonio Guterres told Monday that it would be “moral, legal and political.”

Israel has built about 160 settlements of 700,000 Jews since it occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the Middle East war in 1967. It is estimated at 3.3 million Palestinians living alongside them. Settings are illegal under international law.

Within almost two years since the Hamas -led attack on southern Israel, which killed about 1,200 people and witnessed 251 hostages, which led to the war in Gaza, Israel has tightened its control over the West Bank.

She targeted pockets of the Palestinian armed resistance in refugee camps in the north, where they carried out major military operations and widely demolished buildings, which led to the displacement of many people from their homes.

Up to the region, hundreds of new Israeli military checkpoints appeared, and are often accompanied by sudden closure of roads. The Palestinians say that short flights can now last hours.

The Palestinian Authority (PA), which governs parts of the region other than under Israeli control, was placed under a long -term economic blockade, as Israel blocks the tax revenues it needs to pay teachers and the police. The salaries have decreased in half, and some employees ordered only two days a week.

Jewish settlers intensified attacks against the Palestinians, and formed dozens of new outposts without the permission of the Israeli government.

Meanwhile, the Israeli government launched a major settlement, including the vast E1 project Near Jerusalem, which would build 3,400 homes for settlers. Rights groups say they will actually divide the West Bank into two parts, which destroys the hopes of a neighboring Palestinian state.

“Whoever is trying in the world to get to know a Palestinian state today will get our answer on the ground,” Sottic said last month. “Not with documents, decisions or data, but with facts. House facts, and the facts of the neighborhoods.”

Previous visions of the two -state solution included land bodies. In 2008, then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Establish a plan In talks with the President of Pa Mahmoud Abbas, who will witness Israel’s control of 4.9 % of its territory, for an equal amount of Palestinian territories in the West Bank.

The plan was not agreed at all, and after 17 years the settlements spread in the depth of the West Bank to the point that the Palestinians are afraid that the map will be very fragmented for a viable country.

As for Gaza, the destruction is enormous. More than 65,000 Palestinians were killed during the military campaign of Israel, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health in the region, and most of the 2.1 million population was displaced.

The United Nations estimates that 92 % of housing units have been damaged or destroyed, and 91 % of schools will require full reconstruction or major rehabilitation, and 86 % of crop lands are damaged. It is believed that the rebuilding of the region will cost more than 45 billion pounds over the next ten years.

“Everyone is tired, everyone is exhausted, everyone loses hope that the international community will be influential in consolidating recognition,” says Sabri Sad, a senior member of Fateh, the largest faction in the Palestinian Authority.

But do you still believe that the Palestinian state can come to existence?

“If I don’t think so, we will not put much energy in confession,” he says. “It is time to persuade the American administration that history has changed.”

This may be difficult. US State Department It prevented more than 80 Palestinian officials Including President Abbas – from the attendance of the United Nations General Assembly for this week, accusing them of “undermining the possibilities of peace” by searching for “unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state guess.”

For ordinary Palestinians like Dia, the situation feels growing. “People feel that the national dream is almost impossible,” he says.