By Talal Abu-Ghazaleh – For over seven decades, a fundamental truth has persisted, one that will endure until the end of time: Palestine is a unique and indivisible historical entity. It cannot be reduced to the fragmented maps or artificial borders imposed by military conquest. To treat it as a mere “negotiation file” or a geopolitical bargaining chip is to misunderstand its essence entirely. The land itself speaks through its geography, its ancient stones testify through history, and the living memory of its people affirms in one voice: this is Palestine, and nothing but Palestine.
This land has never been anything other than one with deep Arab roots and a rich, pluralistic identity encompassing Islamic and Christian heritage—a heritage historically open to all faiths. Its cities, from the spiritual heart of Jerusalem to the coastal port of Jaffa, from the ancient streets of Hebron to the walls of Acre, bear their authentic Palestinian names as enduring markers of identity. The evidence of rupture is everywhere: in the names of over 500 villages destroyed since 1948, in the homes confiscated under discriminatory laws, and in the millions of refugees scattered across the globe. These are not relics of a forgotten past but active witnesses. They prove that a right does not disappear simply because it is violated; it is not extinguished, even when rivers of blood are shed in its defense.
Therefore, genuine international recognition of Palestine must be a recognition of historical Palestine in its entirety. Recognition of a mutilated entity—confined to disconnected cantons under siege—is not recognition at all. It is a circumvention of international law, a tacit legitimization of prolonged injustice, and the consecration of an occupation that constitutes, at its origin, an aggression against the principles of self-determination and human dignity shared by all humanity. True justice cannot be built on a foundation of sanctioned fragmentation.
Historically, Palestine served as a refuge for religious communities. For centuries, Jews lived there as a respected religious community, enjoying the protections and freedoms afforded under Islamic rule, most notably during the periods of Cordoba and Ottoman Constantinople. This historical coexistence is one reality. The establishment of a modern political project, predicated on the ideological doctrine of establishing a sovereign state for one group through the systematic seizure of land and the expulsion of its indigenous inhabitants, is an entirely different matter. The former is a chapter of shared history; the latter is a story of displacement.
Consequently, followers of the Jewish faith are as welcome in Palestine as Christians, Muslims, and all people of conscience. But hospitality must not be confused with complicity. Welcoming individuals does not mean granting legitimacy to the colonial theft of a homeland, remaining silent in the face of the ethnic cleansing of millions, or accepting the sinister principle that might makes right—where a legitimate historical claim is replaced by a “fact on the ground” imposed by violence.
Thus, on the matter of the homeland, there can be no concession. The international recognition of Palestine is not a favor to be granted by powerful nations; it is a moral and legal duty required to restore the proper order of justice. The world must cease the false equivalence that morally parallels the victim and the executioner. It cannot ask the Palestinian people to be content with a fraction of their land while surrendering the rest, as if a homeland were a commodity to be partitioned and apportioned.
All of Palestine, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, is the homeland. It is the right. It is the living history. Any political process that ignores this totality engages in a vain game—one that may alter diplomatic ledgers but will never change the underlying reality of the land and the unwavering conviction of its people.
In conclusion, historical Palestine is eternal Palestine. Its full and undiminished recognition is not merely a political position; it is the indispensable cornerstone for any future built on genuine justice, sustainable peace, and regional stability. Followers of the Jewish religion can and should have a home on the land of the prophets, but on the basis of equal citizenship and peaceful coexistence, not on the foundation of military occupation, apartheid, and exclusion.
The right is clear. The message is unequivocal and directed to the conscience of the world: Palestine, in its historical integrity, belongs to history, to geography, and above all, to the Palestinians.
T. A.-G.