Recognition, at last: Europe backs Palestinian statehood and changes the calculus
A critical mass of European democracies has recognized the State of Palestine, shifting the center of gravity at the UN and exposing Washington's lonely veto politics. This is not charity, it is strategy. Recognition aligns law with reality and turns a screensaver policy into a working file. It upgrades representation to embassies, strengthens the legal floor under Palestinian rights, and forces a choice in Jerusalem between negotiation with a peer or a single polity defined by permanent inequality.
For Gaza and the West Bank, the test is concrete. Open and regulated crossings, protection of civilians, salaries for teachers and nurses, a brake on land theft, and institutions that people can see and trust. For Europe, this is a credibility moment. Either pair recognition with timelines, trade rules, and support for justice that survives politics, or admit that the old ritual continues. The door is open. Now policy must walk through it.
Recognition ends the ritual of praising a two state solution while funding a one state reality. It opens the door. Responsibility is walking through it.