Arshad Mahmood Awan
Benjamin Netanyahu, the long-time face of Israel’s militarism, has left little ambiguity about his true intentions. While he has presided over what many observers now call a genocide in Gaza and has destabilised the Middle East with repeated wars, his bluntness on one matter deserves recognition: his refusal to allow a Palestinian state. At a recent ceremony authorising the controversial E1 settlement near occupied Jerusalem, Netanyahu declared that he would “fulfil our promise that there will be no Palestinian state.” It was not a slip of the tongue, but a reaffirmation of a decades-long Israeli policy of erasing Palestinian nationhood.
The contrast between Israel’s stance and the will of the world could not be sharper. A resolution at the UN General Assembly last week, backed by 142 countries, called for the revival of the two-state solution. Yet, despite overwhelming international support, Israeli leaders remain openly hostile. Israel’s finance minister went as far as to say that “there is nothing to recognise and no one to recognise,” echoing the old Zionist fiction that Palestine was “a land without a people.” Such rhetoric is not only historically false but genocidal in intent, as it seeks to erase the identity and existence of an entire nation that has lived on its land for centuries.
For Palestinians, the struggle is both existential and historical. From the Nakba to the present genocide in Gaza, Israel’s policies have been directed at uprooting Palestinians, seizing land, and fragmenting communities. Colonisation in the West Bank, relentless airstrikes in Gaza, and the denial of basic rights are all part of a deliberate project. The UNGA vote is therefore more than symbolic—it is a moral victory, affirming that the world does not accept Israel’s narrative. Yet without enforcement, such resolutions remain hollow.
The role of the United States in this tragedy cannot be ignored. Washington’s unflinching military, diplomatic, and financial support has emboldened Israel’s most extreme elements. Netanyahu and his allies know that as long as the US vetoes every meaningful attempt at accountability in the Security Council, they can continue to defy international law with impunity. This toxic alliance is the biggest obstacle to peace, ensuring that Israel’s rejectionism succeeds on the ground while Palestinians remain under siege.
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Netanyahu’s project goes far beyond Gaza and the West Bank. The doctrine of “Greater Israel” is not a conspiracy theory but a political ambition. Israel’s military adventures in Lebanon, Syria, and its covert operations in Iran, Yemen, and now even Qatar are testament to an expansionist mindset rooted in religious extremism and racial supremacy. For Tel Aviv, destabilisation is strategy: by keeping the region perpetually fractured, it cements its dominance while masking its own crimes against Palestinians.
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Stopping this descent requires urgent action. Arab and Muslim states, fractured for decades, must rise above rivalries and form a united political and economic front. Mere statements of condemnation are insufficient; coordinated diplomatic isolation of Israel, energy leverage, and sanctions-based measures are tools that regional powers can deploy. Beyond the region, the UNGA resolution must be translated into “tangible, time-bound, and irreversible steps” towards Palestinian statehood, as demanded by the majority of nations. Otherwise, international law risks becoming an empty slogan.
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The resolution’s call for an eventual end to Hamas rule in Gaza should not be misread. Any political arrangement must be decided by Palestinians themselves through free and fair elections, once Israel ends its genocidal campaign and conditions for self-determination are created. External impositions have only deepened divisions. True democracy in Palestine can only be born when its people are free from bombs, blockades, and occupation.
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Netanyahu’s “honesty” about blocking a Palestinian state strips away Israel’s mask. It reveals a state driven by conquest rather than coexistence, by expansion rather than peace. The international community must act with urgency—not only to protect the Palestinian people from extermination, but to prevent the wider Middle East from sliding further into endless war. The choice is stark: either a free Palestine and regional peace, or an unrestrained “Greater Israel” project that will engulf the entire region in perpetual conflict.
