A view of demolished Al-Uyun neighborhood following Israeli attacks during sunset in Gaza City, Gaza, Palestine on October 31, 2026. [Saeed M. M. T. Jaras – Anadolu Agency]
It has been over a year since France recognised the State of Palestine during the 80th session of the UN General Assembly in 2025, and diplomacy has not moved beyond symbolism and regurgitated rhetorical efforts. In a meeting held in Ramallah, the Palestinian Authority’s Vice-President Hussein Al Sheikh and the French Envoy for Palestine Andre Parant discussed all the obvious international law violations that have been recurring for decades as a result of Israeli colonialism, such as settler violence in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, as well as “the ongoing suffering” in Gaza.
Countless meetings have been held to discuss the same issues without discussing colonialism. However, as reported by the Palestine Liberation Organisation’s Negotiations Affairs Department, Al Sheikh “emphasised the importance of France continuing its political and diplomatic role in supporting the rights of the Palestinian people,” based upon symbolic recognition of a Palestinian state and adherence to the two-state paradigm. There is no mention at all, of course, as to how symbolic recognition and insistence upon an obsolete paradigm help to support Palestinians’ rights.
The meeting also addressed “efforts’ in preparation for the legislative and presidential Palestinian elections, which PA leader Mahmoud Abbas once again postponed to September 2027. According to the PLO’s executive committee, the elections were postponed due to Israeli actions across the Occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza, which would have interfered with the voting process. In a joint statement, the Foreign Minister of France, Canada, Australia and the UK had expressed their supposed deep regret at Abbas’s decision, while noting that the elections were part of Abbas’s pledge towards reform. “Strengthening Palestinian governance,” the statement added, was necessary “to continue building the institutional foundations of a viable two-state solution.” Strengthening Palestinian governance was what the international community was supposed to be doing for decades, but the issue is presented as though it were a novelty.
Alongside the diplomatic rhetoric on strengthening institutions and protecting Palestinians – none of which are happening – 4,969 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced from Hebron within two weeks.
Each day also adds to Israel’s kill toll in Gaza; the total of Palestinians killed in Gaza since the October 2025 ceasefire is now 1,602, while 74,618 have been killed in Gaza since the start of the genocide in October 2023.
Palestinians are clearly not protected. Not by France, not by any purported reform, and much less by symbolic recognition and adherence to the two-state paradigm.
Diplomacy is clearly not helping, since Palestinians are still being killed and forcibly displaced by Israel. Yet the PA acts as if the international community is actively protecting Palestinians even though several countries were complicit in Israel’s genocide in Gaza and also knowing that international consensus on the two-state paradigm contributes to Israel’s colonisation of Palestine. Banning settlement goods barely dents the colonial process, since it does not impede Israel’s colonial expansion. Besides, all steps taken by world leaders are focused on the two-state paradigm rather than the Palestinian people. France’s diplomatic role, like other countries, merely follows an outdated script that the PA insists on promoting.
BLOG: Human rights discourse serves the two-state paradigm, not the Palestinian people
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.
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