Why do Palestinians reject Israel’s right to exist?

10. Why do Palestinians reject Israel’s right to exist?

Unlike people, nation-states do not have an inherent “right to exist”.¹ This is not a philosophical claim — there is no principle enshrined within international law about the right of states to their existence. This is all the more pertinent when the state in question has been built through the destruction of a people, who certainly have the right to exist. Israel’s existence relies on Palestinians’ nonexistence, or at the very least, their very limited existence on their land. This question gets to the heart of Israeli intentions toward Palestinians in their ongoing colonization of their lands: forcing Palestinians give up their right to exist on the land and to self-determination, and acquiesce to settlers’ “right” to colonize their home.

By recognizing Israel’s alleged “right to exist,” Palestinians would be acceding to the claim that they do not have a right to exist, as the state was built on top of their destroyed communities. This is a ridiculous expectation. The right to return for all refugees is enshrined in international law and the right to self-determination. Through the elimination and destruction of Palestinian communities even before the declaration of the State of Israel in 1948^{2 3}, zionism and its adherents have worked hard to prevent Palestinians from enjoying their most basic rights, including the right to life.

In 1993, the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) formally acknowledged that Israel had a right to exist as part of the Oslo Accords — an attempt to move toward “peace” through a state-building program (rather than one of national liberation through decolonization) for Palestinians. Today, the Oslo Accords and their aftermath are seen not as a breakthrough for peace, but rather an entrenchment of Israel’s occupation and control over the entirety of Palestine. While Palestinians gained neither a state, nor any semblance of justice from the accords, Israel deepened its control, gained the formal acceptance of its occupation of lands colonized in 1948 and earlier by the PLO, and continued to colonize lands in the West Bank through settlement construction.

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