If someone had claimed that a senior Spanish government official would ever declare that “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” while almost the entire world is turning against Israel, the very suggestion would seem ludicrous.
But that is exactly how Yolanda Diaz, Spain’s deputy prime minister, ended her statement on May 23, days before Spain officially recognised Palestine as a state.
The Spanish recognition of Palestine, along with the Norwegian and Irish recognitions, is hugely significant.
Western Europe is finally catching up with the rest of the world on the significance of a strong international stance in support of the Palestinian people and rejection of Israel’s actions in Palestine.
But equally important is the change in the political discourse on both Palestine and Israel in Europe and around the world.
Ban on the Palestinian flag
Almost immediately after the outbreak of the Israeli war in Gaza, some European countries imposed restrictions on pro-Palestinian protests, and some even banned the Palestinian flag, which, by a perverse logic, they perceived as an anti-Semitic symbol.
Over time, however, the unprecedented solidarity with Israel at the beginning of the war turned into an outright political, legal and moral liability for pro-Israeli Western governments.
Thus began a slow shift that led to an almost complete transformation of the position of some governments and a partial, though explicit, change in the political discourse of others.
The early ban on pro-Palestinian protests was impossible to maintain in the face of millions of angry European citizens who called on their governments to stop blindly supporting Tel Aviv.
On May 30, the very fact that French private television station TF1 hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu led to widespread, albeit spontaneous, protests by French citizens who called on their media to deny accused war criminals the opportunity to speak to the public.
Unable to counter the pro-Palestinian narrative, the French government decided on May 31 not to invite Israeli military firms to participate in Eurosatory, one of the world’s largest military exhibitions, scheduled for June 17-21.
Winds of change
Even countries like Canada and Germany, which supported the Israeli actions against Palestinians until the late stages of the massacres, have also begun to change their language.
The language change is also taking place in Israel itself, as well as among pro-Israel intellectuals and journalists in the mainstream media. In a widely read column, New York Times writer Thomas Friedman lashed out at Netanyahu late last March, accusing him of being “the worst leader in Jewish history, not just in Israeli history.”
Before the war, Israeli political discourse on Gaza revolved around a particular set of terms: “deterrence,” represented in the occasional unilateral war, often referred to as “lawn mowing,” and “security,” among others.
Billions of dollars have been profited over the years from the war in Israel, the US and other European countries, all in the name of keeping Gaza besieged and submissive.
That language has now receded into the background, giving way to a grand discourse on existential wars, the future of the Jewish people, and the possible end of Israel. While it is true that Netanyahu fears that the end of the war will be a terrible end to his supposedly triumphant legacy as Israel’s “defender,” that is not all.
Post-war development options
If the war ends without Israel restoring its so-called deterrence and security, it will have to face the fact that the Palestinian people cannot be deposed and that their rights cannot be ignored. For Israel, such a realisation would be the end of its settlement-colonial project, which began almost 100 years ago.
Moreover, the perception and language pertaining to Palestine and Israel are changing among ordinary people around the world. The misperception of a Palestinian ‘terrorist’ is rapidly being replaced by the true perception of an Israeli war criminal, a categorisation that is now in line with the opinion of major international legal institutions.
Israel is now almost completely isolated, in part because of its war in Gaza, but also because of the courage and resilience of the Palestinian people and global solidarity with the Palestinian cause.
Biden’s truce plan
On Monday, the US urged the UN Security Council to back a three-phase plan announced by President Joe Biden aimed at ending the nearly eight-month war in Gaza, releasing all hostages and sending massive aid to the devastated territory.
US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the US had circulated the draft resolution to 14 other Security Council members to support the proposal to end the conflict, which began with a surprise Hamas attack in southern Israel on October 7 that killed about 1,200 people, mostly Israeli civilians. She said in a statement:
“Numerous leaders and governments, including in the region, have endorsed this plan and we call on the Security Council to join them in calling for implementation of this deal without delay and without further conditions.”
The short draft resolution, obtained by the Associated Press, welcomed the agreement announced by Biden on May 31 and called on Hamas to “fully accept it and implement its terms without delay and without conditions.” Hamas said it viewed the offer “favourably.” It made no mention of Israel’s acceptance of the deal.
When Biden made the statement, he called it an Israeli offer that includes a “long ceasefire” and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza if Hamas releases all the hostages it is holding.
Hamas kidnapped about 250 people, mostly Israeli civilians, on October 7. Then, they released more than 100 people during a brief truce in late November and early December. Israel says about 80 hostages are in captivity, along with the remains of about 43 others.
The death toll is rising
Meanwhile, Israeli bombing and ground offensives in Hamas-ruled Gaza have killed more than 36,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
On Monday, the foreign ministers of five key Arab countries – Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt – urged Israel and Hamas to consider Biden’s proposal “seriously and favourably.”
A group of seven major industrialised nations – the US, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Canada and Italy – also backed the ceasefire plan.
Israel announced on Monday the deaths of four captives held in Gaza amid growing doubts and international pressure over the ceasefire and hostage release plan outlined by US President Joe Biden.
The G7 group of developed nations said in a statement that its leaders “fully endorse” the deal pushed by Biden and urged Hamas to accept it.
Israel continues to fight for hostages
The Israeli military announced the deaths in Gaza of four hostages taken on October 7, giving the names of Chaim Perry, Yoram Metzger, Amiram Cooper and Nadav Popplewell.
UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron said he was “sad to hear about the death” of Israeli-British man Popplewell, adding:
“We reiterate our demand for Hamas to send all hostages home.”
Separately, Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said:
“We assess that the four of them were killed while together in the area of Khan Younis during our operation there against Hamas.”
Growing pressure
The US proposal comes a week after Algeria proposed a draft Security Council resolution demanding a ceasefire in Gaza, the release of all hostages held by Hamas, and essentially ordering Israel to “immediately end the military offensive” in Rafah.
At home and abroad, Israel is under increasing pressure to accept the deal, with Israeli demonstrators calling on the government to secure the return of the hostages, and the international community increasingly concerned about rising civilian casualties in Gaza.
Colombia, which severed diplomatic relations with Israel last month, said on Monday that the Israeli ambassador to Colombia must leave the country by June 30.
