Rethinking the Recognition of Palestine: The Legal and Historical Realities Behind the Disputed Territories
As calls grow in Western nations to recognize a Palestinian state, historical and legal evidence tell a more complex story, one that begins long before 1967
Since October 7, 2023, several Western nations, including France, Canada, Great Britain, and Australia, have seen growing momentum toward the unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state. To many, such a move seems like a step toward peace and a response to what is often described as an “occupation” that began in 1967. Yet this simplified narrative often overlooks essential historical, archaeological, and legal facts.
The Israeli–Palestinian conflict cannot be reduced to slogans. To grasp its reality, one must return to history, and to the land itself. Contrary to popular belief, “Palestine” has never existed as an independent, sovereign state. Throughout history, the region has been ruled successively by the Roman, Byzantine, Islamic, Crusader, Ottoman, and British empires. No Palestinian government, currency, or dynasty ever existed before the 20th century. And no other nation, apart from Israel, has ever declared Jerusalem its capital.
By contrast, Jewish presence and sovereignty in this land are well documented in both biblical and extra-biblical sources, as well as in Assyrian, Babylonian, and Roman records. Archaeology confirms this continuity: the Tel Dan Stele mentioning the “House of David,” the excavations of the City of David in Jerusalem, and the Dead Sea Scrolls all testify to an organized civilization, complete with institutions and laws, long before the rise of Islam or Arab nationalism.
Arab populations also have deep roots in the region, but there is no archaeological or historical evidence of a distinct Palestinian political entity prior to the modern era. Palestinian national identity, as it is known today, largely developed in the 20th century amid the collapse of colonial empires and the rise of Zionism.
The term “Palestine” itself dates back to antiquity. After the Bar Kokhba revolt in 135 CE, Roman Emperor Hadrian renamed the province of Judea “Syria Palaestina,” in reference to the ancient Philistines, an Aegean people who had settled along the coast. His goal was to symbolically erase the Jewish connection to the land. Thereafter, “Palestine” remained mainly a geographical term, not a political one. Under the Ottoman Empire, the area was divided into several administrative districts and provinces; there was never a unified province named “Palestine.”
It was only under the British Mandate (1917–1948) that the name acquired formal administrative status. The British used it to refer to a territory inhabited by Jews, Christians, and Muslims, without implying the existence of an independent state.
Legally, the 1922 League of Nations “Mandate for Palestine” recognized “the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine” and called for the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people. After the 1948 war, Jordan occupied and later annexed Judea and Samaria (the West Bank), a move recognized by very few countries and without valid standing under international law. When Israel took control of the territory in 1967, it was not conquering a recognized Palestinian state but ending an unlawful Jordanian occupation.
The Oslo Accords of the 1990s later created a Palestinian Authority to administer parts of the West Bank, while leaving final borders to be negotiated. Under international law, these territories remain disputed, not “occupied” in the strict legal sense of the term.
Today, in the age of social media, historical and legal complexities are often reduced to memes and outrage. The millennia-old bond between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel, thoroughly documented by history and archaeology, is now falsely labeled as “colonialism,” while Palestinian identity is retroactively projected into the distant past.
This is not to dismiss the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people, but to restore the discussion to its proper context. History makes one fact abundantly clear: no Palestinian state ever existed before the 20th century, while the Jewish presence in this land is among the most enduring and well-attested in human history.
The question of recognizing a Palestinian state must therefore be examined through the lens of law and historical fact, not political slogans. The stones of Jerusalem, the scrolls of Qumran, and the records of history all bear witness to a simple truth:
Sovereignty is not proclaimed; it is born of the persistence of a people upon its land, of the memory the stones have never forgotten, and of the covenant between that people and the land God gave them.
Micaël Carter lives in Israel with his wife and three daughters, having made aliyah from France in 2017. He leads Multiply Equip Impact, serves in ministry and media, and writes on Israel, faith, and the region.
