Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia have recognised Palestinian statehood, a symbolic response to Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza and territorial expansion in the occupied West Bank.More states, including France and Portugal, are expected to recognise Palestine in the coming days after the announcements on Sunday.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listIsrael has responded in recent days by doubling down.Shortly before the announcement, Shosh Bedrosian, a spokesperson for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said the PM had called the act “absurd and simply a reward for terrorism”.At an event in occupied East Jerusalem on September 15, Netanyahu promised his supporters that there “will be no Palestinian state”.While this act by the three states – Canada, the UK and Australia – grabbed the world’s attention and many headlines, analysts tell Al Jazeera that it is a small, symbolic step in the ongoing indignity, murder and displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, albeit it one with some weight.“Recognition matters in this case because close US allies have so far reserved it until the day after a negotiated agreement,” Rida Abu Rass, a Palestinian political scientist, told Al Jazeera.“It matters because these countries broke ranks. In terms of its impact, Israel finds itself further isolated, and I think that’s meaningful.”On the same day as recognition was announced, at least 55 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza on Sunday. At least 37 of them were killed in Gaza City, where the Israeli army has unleashed …
