Right of Self-Determination for Palestine.

The Palestinian question is one of the longest unresolved political and humanitarian crises of the modern era. At its heart is a simple principle: a people should have the right to determine its political future, live in freedom and dignity, and establish a sovereign state in its historic homeland. After decades of occupation, displacement, settlement expansion and conflict, denying Palestinians this right has become increasingly difficult to justify.

Before the creation of Israel, Palestine was part of the Ottoman Empire and subsequently came under British Mandate rule. The emergence of modern political Zionism in late-19th-century Europe fundamentally changed the political trajectory of the region. Zionism sought to establish a Jewish national home, eventually developing into a movement for Jewish statehood. Theodor Herzl became one of its most prominent political figures.

Britain’s 1917 Balfour Declaration gave the Zionist project major international political support by backing a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine, while formally promising not to prejudice the rights of the existing non-Jewish population. The declaration became an important foundation for the subsequent establishment of Israel.

After the Second World War and the Holocaust, international support for a Jewish state intensified. In 1947, the United Nations adopted Resolution 181, recommending partition of Palestine into Arab and Jewish states, with Jerusalem under a special international regime. The proposal was rejected by Palestinian Arab leadership, while the Jewish Agency accepted it with reservations. When Israel declared independence in May 1948, war followed. Israel ultimately controlled substantially more territory than the area allocated to it under the UN partition plan. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were displaced in what Palestinians call the Nakba, or catastrophe.

The conflict did not end there. The 1967 war brought the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza under Israeli occupation. UN Security Council Resolution 242 emphasized the inadmissibility of acquiring territory by war and called for Israeli withdrawal from territories occupied in the conflict, alongside a just settlement of the refugee problem.

For Palestinians, the subsequent decades became a struggle for national rights and statehood. Peace initiatives, negotiations and international resolutions repeatedly recognized Palestinian aspirations, but settlement expansion and continuing occupation steadily complicated the possibility of a viable Palestinian state.

The international legal position has become particularly significant. In its July 2024 advisory opinion, the International Court of Justice concluded that Israel’s prolonged occupation, settlement policy, annexation and related discriminatory measures obstruct the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination. The Court found Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory unlawful and called for an end to new settlement activity.

The UN Security Council had already declared in Resolution 2334 that Israeli settlements in territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, have “no legal validity” and constitute a major obstacle to a just and lasting peace. The resolution specifically condemned settlement expansion, land confiscation, home demolitions and displacement.

The tragedy reached a new and devastating phase on 7 October 2023, when Hamas-led fighters attacked Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to subsequent Israeli figures. But neither can it erase the decades of occupation and dispossession that preceded it.

There have also been serious allegations that Israeli authorities received warnings before 7 October. Recent reporting has cited claims that UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about a possible major Hamas operation. Netanyahu has denied receiving such a warning. Although Netanyahu has pressurized UAE to deny this allegation, but, UAE has not denied. Even Egypt has confirmed that such information was shared with Israel before 7 October, 2023.

What is beyond dispute is the enormous scale of the subsequent devastation in Gaza. Israel’s military campaign has produced catastrophic civilian suffering, destruction of homes and infrastructure, displacement and severe humanitarian conditions. The International Court of Justice, in the genocide proceedings brought by South Africa, ordered provisional measures requiring Israel to prevent acts within the scope of the Genocide Convention and to address the humanitarian situation. These orders do not constitute a final judgment that genocide has occurred, but they underline the gravity of the allegations before the Court.

The wider regional consequences have also been alarming, with violence involving Lebanon, Syria and Iran adding further risks of regional escalation. Israel’s security concerns are an excuse; but the security and political rights of Palestinians are genuine. One cannot permanently secure one population by denying another its fundamental rights.

The way forward should therefore begin with an unequivocal commitment to Palestinian self-determination. Palestinians deserve an independent, sovereign and viable state, alongside Israel, with secure and internationally recognized borders of 1948 and Jerusalem as Capital of Palestine. Israel must return back to its border recognized by UN in 1948.

Peace cannot be built on permanent occupation, forced displacement or indefinite military control. Nor can it be achieved through terrorism or attacks on civilians.

After generations of suffering, the international community should move beyond statements and implement international law consistently. The Palestinian people have waited long enough for the right that international law already recognizes: the right to determine their own future.