In April last year, I wrote that, given the genocide it is committing in Gaza, its violent occupation of the West Bank, numerous attacks on its neighbours, and apparent disregard for international and human rights law, it was time for the international community to declare Israel a rogue state. As if we hadn’t received enough confirmation of its rogue status since then, on September 9, Israel went ahead and carried out a strike on Qatar, a key mediator in negotiations between Hamas and Israel. This, while Gaza’s devastation deepens by the day.The last remaining high rises in Gaza City are now being flattened, and hundreds of thousands of people who had already been displaced multiple times are being pushed towards the south of the enclave. Israel claims the south is a “humanitarian zone”, but we know well that there is nowhere in Gaza where Palestinians are safe.So, in the midst of all this, it feels futile to celebrate the United Nations General Assembly vote where 142 member states backed “tangible, timebound, and irreversible steps” towards a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict. The same resolution, rejected by just 12 states including Israel and the United States, also called on Hamas to free all hostages, end its rule in Gaza, and hand over its weapons to the Palestinian Authority, in line with the objective of establishing a sovereign and independent Palestinian state.Gaza is still smouldering, and Palestinian communities are being systemati …
