Good morning. Yesterday, the UK, Canada, Portugal and Australia joined 147 other countries in formally recognising the state of Palestine. Today, at a meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations general assembly, France, Belgium, Malta and others will take the same step.
That coordinated action is a moment of real significance, and represents a rebuke to Israel and the United States for the unending assault on Gaza, an objection to the annexation of the West Bank, and a gesture of support for a two-state solution. But nobody expects that it will end the war, or suddenly create the sovereignty, institutions and settled borders that are the bare minimum for a state to be viable – and there are fears that Benjamin Netanyahu will respond by sanctioning the acceleration of construction in the West Bank.
