Name: Prakash Kumar Shaw

Registration Number: 18DBALB030

Programme: BA LLB (Hons.)

Semester: VI

Course: Public International Law

Course Code: 5BAL603

Component: I (Research Paper)

Date of Submission: 03-08-2021

Submitted to: Prof. Vidya M. N

 RESEARCH PAPER- CAN de jure STATEHOOD HELP PALESTINE ACQUIRE de facto
STATEHOOD? THE ANALYSIS:

TOPIC: “STATEHOOD AND RECOGNITION OF PALESTINE”

TITLE: CAN de jure STATEHOOD HELP PALESTINE ACQUIRE de facto

STATEHOOD? THE ANALYSIS:

ABSTRACT:

After the fall of the Ottoman Empire, Palestine has struggled very hard to attain
statehood. The status of Palestine as a state has always been the most debated and
controversial issue within the International Community. After World War-I, several
nations were under the British control which led to conflicts and violence and the call
for recognition of Palestine was therefore handed to the United Nations (UN). The
UN decided to create two states namely Israel and Palestine, and of the two, Israel
accepted the partition and declared its Independence, but Palestine rejected the
decision and kept fighting for their rights, freedom and to attain de facto statehood.
It is seen that Palestine has been given de jure statehood by several nations and it is
recognised by many international countries as a state, but the main reason of clash
and conflict is that the people of Palestine has been fighting for decades to get
International recognition and acquire full statehood.

In this paper, the research is done on the struggle and challenges faced by the people
of Palestine since ages and how brutal has the world been in accepting this state as a
legal body. The major point of discussion in this paper is, whether Palestine meets
the requirements for de facto statehood and even though it has de jure statehood, is
it sufficient enough for them at the International Community.

Keywords: - Statehood, Recognition, Struggle, International Community, Rights

and Freedom...

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 RESEARCH PAPER- CAN de jure STATEHOOD HELP PALESTINE ACQUIRE de facto
STATEHOOD? THE ANALYSIS:

INTRODUCTION:

Palestine was separated and snatched off its territory with the creation of Israel as a
Jewish state in the heart of Muslim dominated middle-east. The hostility in Palestine
has been going on for years precisely, since the inception of Israel. The creation of
Israel hit Palestine the hardest and the uprising from the Muslim majority states that
are adjacent to the area have been involved in the tiff ever since and Palestine has
suffered the most amidst all of this and the recent hostility dating just a few months
back in the year 2021.

However, the struggle of Statehood is not new for Palestine; the struggle has been on
since the fall of Ottoman Empire. But since the Israeli-Palestinian divide the issue
has commanded international recognition and expert opinion on the matter. While
the partition took place, Israel accepted the statehood provided to it by the United
Nations whereas Palestine straight away declined it and stood staunchly against it.
Since then, despite frequent efforts made by the State of Palestine it has still not been
given Statehood.

According to the Montevideo convention a state must possess the following

qualifications:

a) A permanent population

b) A defined territory

c) Government

d) The capacity to enter into relations with the other states 1

The State has time and again put forth that Palestine has met the mentioned
requirements and has hence achieved de-facto position as followed by international
community. But when looked at it from a different perspective, it is clear that
Palestine does not enjoy total control over areas that it shall hence deprive it of
requirements to fulfil the said guidelines.

This paper will further look into the aspect of whether or not Palestine can be given
statehood and if the argued de-facto status can also help it achieve de-jure statehood.
1
The 1933 Montevideo Inter-America Convention on the Rights and duties of a State, December 1933,
Article I

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 RESEARCH PAPER- CAN de jure STATEHOOD HELP PALESTINE ACQUIRE de facto
STATEHOOD? THE ANALYSIS:

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:
This paper is based on secondary sources of data and information collected from
different books, journals, newspapers and relevant websites, for which proper
citations have been provided using the 20th edition Bluebook. The purpose of this
paper is to study the concept of the status of Palestine as a state and where is it
standing legally in the international community in the present day. The land has
always been on dispute since its partition and from then the struggle to attain
statehood became a major hindrance for the state of Palestine.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS:
1. What is the legal position of Palestine in the internationally community
presently?
2. Can de jure statehood help Palestine attain full statehood?
3. How does the international community affect the recognition of the state of
Palestine?

LITERATURE REVIEW:
The literature involved in research for the said paper has been procured from varied
online sources.
Firstly, Britannica articles came really handy in understanding the overview of the
issue and the topic and provided for substantial elements to further understand and
figure out the research pathway.
Secondly, Law teacher articles have been a constant help since it is an international
topic which is very delicately and efficiently dealt with providing for an unbiased
view of the topic.
Thirdly, Council on Foreign Relations published an article based on Palestinian
statehood and that provided for an international bird’s eye view of the global
standing on the issue of Palestinian statehood.
Fourthly, a paper by Kavitha Giridhar on Legal Status of Palestine accustomed within
its ambit all possible areas of conflict and issues and provided for historical clarity
and recent relevance of the topic.
The sources available against the topic did not a good stance before the sources
available for the topic however, they too were analysed.

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 RESEARCH PAPER- CAN de jure STATEHOOD HELP PALESTINE ACQUIRE de facto
STATEHOOD? THE ANALYSIS:

Hence, this is the review provided for the sources that have assisted in better
research and presentation of the facts and further analysis.

UNDERSTANDING OF DE-FACTO AND DE-JURE RECOGITION:

Before we dwell deep into the Palestinian statehood issue, we need to recognise the
conflict that is present in the situation. Palestine, as mentioned earlier, has argued
that it has achieved de-facto status. To understand this contention, it is important to
note the status of de-facto state. De facto states are political entities that possess
control of territory but lack international recognition. Such entities appear to violate
the norm of border fixity and the principle of territorial integrity in multiple ways 2.
Hence, it is understood that the State of Palestine is contending that it fulfils the
requirement of territorial control but lacks international recognition and sufficient
stability.
Now, to understand what Palestine really seeks to achieve is the status of a de-jure
state. When the state who is giving recognition to the new state is of the view that the
new state is capable of possessing and has all the essential attributes of the statehood
along with stability and permanency, then such recognition is de jure recognition of
that state. It results from an expressed declaration or a positive act which indicates
the clear intent to grant the recognition. It is final and cannot be revoked or
withdrawn once it is given3. So, herein we can see that the State of Palestine while in
the stage of self-recognised de-facto recognition seeks to establish itself as a de-jure
state.

DE-FACTO RECOGNITION OF PALESTINE:

In 2012, in a historic voting moment, Palestine was given de-facto recognition in the
United Nations with an overwhelming vote of 138 votes. This however did not go
without due resistance. United State and Israel threatened to place an embargo on
the funding to the State from the West Bank. One of the major threats that followed
the recognition was the pass to the International Court of Justice wherein, Palestine
can sue Israel for war crimes and illegal settlements.

2
Harris Myloans, De-facto States unbound, POLICYMEMOS, De Facto States Unbound - PONARS
Eurasia (July 30th, 2021, 11:23 A.M.)
3
De-facto and De-jure Recognition of States under International Law, Lexpeeps De-facto and De-jure
Recognition of States under International Law, (Jul 31, 2021, 12:43 PM)

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 RESEARCH PAPER- CAN de jure STATEHOOD HELP PALESTINE ACQUIRE de facto
STATEHOOD? THE ANALYSIS:

However, even post the de-facto recognition of the State of Palestine, peace-talks
between Israel and Palestine have been long stalled, for which the West can also be
accounted. Recently, the situation between the two-states were so grim that it left a
global stain on the concept of settlement and furthered the long-standing strain
between Palestine and Israel. Presently, more than hundred states have recognised it
as an official state.
Further, the emergent criteria require an assessment of sustainability and viability to
ensure that the given state would continue to uphold the criteria after it has been
accorded statehood. Palestine in this regard is considered a viable state and therefore
its recognition needs to be upheld. Notably, since the peace process began in 1993,
most of the central state institutions in the region have been established on behalf of
Palestine. In addition, the state controls the Gaza strip and a portion of the West
Bank. In addition, it has vital state institutions like the police, the president,
government and a judicial system. Of great importance is the fact that its passport is
recognized by twenty-nine countries4.

DE-JURE RECOGNITION OF PALESTINE:

De-jure provides for expressed recognition that also brings with it the legal
responsibilities and recognition. However, the resentment towards the de-facto
status itself provided has led to international outcry and up scaled violence. The
tensions in the area with Israeli forces further and further into Palestine has pulled
apart the very reasoning behind giving Palestine de-jure recognition.
Historically, between 100,000 and 120,000 Palestinians crossed daily from the
occupied territories into Israel to work. They did not have much faith in Arab
governments, nor did they place strong trust in the PLO, which, although still a
powerful symbol of Palestinian aspirations, had not succeeded by either diplomatic
or military efforts to win Palestinian self-determination5.
United States and Israel have expressed clear resistance and disregard to Palestinian
de-facto recognition making it harder for the State to further their stance and the
need for their de-jure statehood recognition. Tensions have flared up on the Gaza
strip time and again. Some have argued that the de-facto recognition has led to

4
Palestinian Statehood Recognition, Law teacher, Palestine Statehood Recognition, lawteacher.net,
(Jul 31, 2021, 12:56 PM)
5
Palestine- International Recognition, Britannica, Palestine- International Recognition, (Aug 1, 2021,
13:15 PM)

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 RESEARCH PAPER- CAN de jure STATEHOOD HELP PALESTINE ACQUIRE de facto
STATEHOOD? THE ANALYSIS:

further destabilisation of the area. Even though, Israel has substantial control over
certain regions of the area Palestine too has gained stability in the area and furthered
its self-determination.

CURRENT STATUS OF PALISTINIAN STATEHOOD:

Palestine presently is seen as a State that has met the requirements for a de-facto
state, i.e., fulfils all the requirements for a factual existence but, the State has not
been given de-jure recognition, i.e., no legal recognition. Since there is no legal
recognition, the state also does not enjoy all the privileges of a legal state. Therefore,
this state is recognised as the state that is in accordance with the declaratory theory.
It also fulfils all the criteria for a factual existence but not for a legal one.
1. As has been mentioned earlier there are certain legal effects of state
recognition such as: It acquires the capacity to enter into diplomatic relations
with other states.
2. It acquires the capacity to enter into treaties with other states.
3. The state is able to enjoy the rights and privileges of international statehood.
4. The state can undergo state succession.
5. With the recognition of state comes the right to sue and to be sued.
6. The state can become a member of the United Nations organisation 6.
It is argued that Palestine does not fulfil the criteria for de-jure recognition and fairly
so since the territorial aspect of Palestine itself is under scrutiny since Israel still has
substantial control over four major regions. The ongoing conflict is not only local but
also diplomatic since even though the inception of Israel is not something that goes
down well with the entire Middle Eastern community.
The peace-talks have proved to be a failure and major countries such as United States
have made it all the more difficult to further the issue of de-jure sovereignty of
Palestine. The resistance is with due consideration to the powers that Palestine will
acquire once given the de-jure status. Hence, even though Palestine has achieved
major de-facto recognition, the recognition per se is not absolute.

6
Subodh Asthana, Recognition of a State under International Law, Ipleaders, and How Recognition of a State
takes place under provisions of International Law, Ipleaders. In, (Aug 1, 2021, 15;30 PM)

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 RESEARCH PAPER- CAN de jure STATEHOOD HELP PALESTINE ACQUIRE de facto
STATEHOOD? THE ANALYSIS:

CONCLUSION:
It can be inferred from the due discussion provided above that the State of Palestine
has achieved some considerable de-facto recognition however; the recognition so is
not absolute in nature and still faces due resistance. The situation is worsened with
the constant violent outbreaks between the State of Palestine and Israel.
However, will this de-facto recognition lead to de-jure recognition? Unfortunately,
no and it only seems unfair considering the fact that Israel has already been
recognised as a de-jure sovereign state. To make things worse, some states have even
recognised Israel occupation of Palestinian regions and de-facto territorial limit of
Israel.
So, it can be concluded that the status of Palestinian statehood does not seem very
promising especially considering the fact that the State still is in constant threat of an
Israeli uprising like the recent one a few months back. Presently, Palestine lacks both
capacity and competence to be recognised as a de-jure sovereign state and the road
forward seems to be a long one too especially with the constant hostility from the
neighbouring state of Israel.
Even though Palestine does qualify for statehood it does not qualify for a de-jure
state but only as a de-facto state. The rise in the number of provided citizenship does
stand as a positive but it does not still quantify its position as a de-jure state.

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 RESEARCH PAPER- CAN de jure STATEHOOD HELP PALESTINE ACQUIRE de facto
STATEHOOD? THE ANALYSIS:

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
1. The 1933 Montevideo Inter-America Convention on the Rights and duties of a
State, December 1933, Article I
2. Harris Myloans, De-facto States unbound, POLICYMEMOS, De Facto States
Unbound - PONARS Eurasia (July 30th, 2021, 11:23 A.M.)
3. De-facto and De-jure Recognition of States under International Law, Lexpeeps
De-facto and De-jure Recognition of States under International Law, (Jul 31,
2021, 12:43 PM)
4. Palestinian Statehood Recognition, Law teacher, Palestine Statehood
Recognition, lawteacher.net, (Jul 31, 2021, 12:56 PM)
5. Palestine- International Recognition, Britannica, Palestine- International
Recognition, (Aug 1, 2021, 13:15 PM)
6. Subodh Asthana, Recognition of a State under International Law, Ipleaders,
and How Recognition of a State takes place under provisions of International
Law, Ipleaders. In, (Aug 1, 2021, 15; 30 PM)

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