In recent days, multiple states have announced that they now recognise the State of Palestine. This comes after years genocide, forced famine, and continued violence and horrifying conditions, all imposed by “Israel”. It also comes on the heels of the new report that tells the world what we already know, having seen it for ourselves: “Israel” is committing genocide in Palestine.

Established by the Human Rights Council on May, 27, 2021, Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel (the Commission) collected and analysed evidence related to the occupied Palestinian territory and alleged violations of international law. Its report, “Legal analysis of the conduct of Israel in Gaza pursuant to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide: Conference room paper of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel”, was published last week.

This is not the first report by the Commission. Previous reports “found that the Israeli security forces have committed crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza, including extermination, torture, rape, sexual violence and other inhumane acts, inhuman treatment, forcible transfer, persecution based on gender and starvation as a method of warfare”. It was also found that Israel “destroyed in part the reproductive capacity of the Palestinians in Gaza as a group, including by imposing measures intended to prevent births” and “deliberately inflicted conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction of Palestinians as a group”.

The report notes that when a genocidal act is committed, there is a duty to punish the act. It references the Genocide Convention and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, both of which define genocide. “The Rome Statute that established the International Criminal Court gives that Court jurisdiction to prosecute and punish individuals for the crime of genocide if committed on the territory of a State Party, regardless of the nationality of the perpetrator, or by a national of a State Party, wherever committed.”

The five categories of genocide, as laid out in the Genocide Convention and the Rome Statute are killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, inflicting conditions to cause physical destruction of the group, in part or whole, imposing measures to prevent birth within the group, and transferring children of the group to another group by force “with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”.

The reports noted that at least 47 percent of Palestinians killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023 were women and children. It also found that 83 percent of Palestinians killed in Gaza were civilians. The World Health Organization (WHO) reported 498 attacks on healthcare facilities, killing 747 people in the Gaza Strip. It was found that women and children were specifically targeted and killed by Israel. “In all cases analysed by the Commission in relation to the attacks along the evacuation routes and within designated safe areas, the Commission found that the Israeli security forces had clear knowledge of the presence of Palestinian civilians along the evacuation routes and within the safe areas but nevertheless they shot at and killed civilians, some of whom (including children) 52 were holding makeshift white flags.”

The Commission reported on deaths resulting from the blockade on humanitarian aid, the increase in maternal mortality and neonatal and intrapartum deaths, and at least 1,373 people being killed while trying to access food. It stated, “Palestinians in Gaza were attacked in their homes, at hospitals, in shelters (including schools and religious sites), during the evacuations and in designated safe zones. At times, civilians, journalists, healthcare professionals, humanitarian workers and other protected persons were directly targeted and killed.”

The details in the report are damning and there could only be one conclusion. It concluded that “the Israeli authorities have committed the crime against humanity of extermination in the Gaza Strip by killing Palestinian civilians”. It stated that “the Israeli authorities intended to kill as many Palestinians as possible through its military operations in Gaza since 7 October 2023 and knew that the means and methods of warfare employed would cause mass deaths of Palestinians, including children”.

On page 16 of the 72-page report, it says, “The Commission concludes that the actus reus and mens rea of ‘killing members of the group’ under article II(a) of the Genocide Convention are established.”

The full report is available online, searchable by its title. It give a clear account of what has been taking place in Palestine and the irreparable harm caused to the Palestinian people. In the face of genocide, it is absurd that there continue to be calls for a two-state solution by anyone who is not Palestinian. Tremendous reparations are owed to Palestine and the Palestinian people, and it will take generations to repair the damage done to the land and the people.

As Rabea Eghbariah wrote for The Guardian: “The two-state solution has not only become detached from reality, but for too long steered the discussion away from reality itself[…] Just last month, Israel approved a plan for 22 new settlements in the West Bank. These decades of settlement expansion and de facto annexation have effectively gutted any viable basis for the two-state paradigm, even according to its own metrics.”

Eghbariah added: “The truth is that the two-state solution has become a delusion - a mantra repeated to mask an entrenched one-state reality[…] This mantra continues to prop up the illusion that Israeli occupation is on the brink of ending - if only more states recognize the Palestinian state and if only Palestinians and Israelis would just sit down and talk.”

Eghbariah clearly states that the two-state solution is fantasy and misdiagnosis. It ignores the foundation of what we see happening today, which is not a crisis, but a genocide. That foundation is the Nakba of 1948 and continued destruction of Palestine and displacement of the Palestinian people. There are questions that begin with the Nakba, including and not limited to its legal implications. The fantasy of the two-state solution comes from the idea that the “two sides” need only talk and come to an agreement, never having to reckon with the history of violence inflicted upon the Palestinian people and the justice due to them.

Opinio Juris shared commentary, in response to States recently recognising the State of Palestine, by scholars. Below are four excerpts.

“While two-state solution pontification is presented as pragmatism, it functions as a form of necropolitics, whereby one has power to dictate who is worthy of living. Salaita demonstrates that, when zionism is given oxygen to live, Palestinians are, by necessity, awarded the death penalty. Zionism can only thrive on the ruins of Palestinian villages and through the eradication of Palestinian natives, from the 1948 Nakba until the genocide of Gaza.”

- Bana Abu-Zulu

“Most obviously, the space between recognitions of the State of Palestine and the reality of Palestinian devastation, genocide, and catastrophe is so gaping as to swallow any declarations whole. It took declared famine for the recognising governments to speak at all; it is hard to imagine what would be needed to make them act. “

- Zinaida Miller

“As a child, I wondered why Europe didn’t see us and I would have been elated with this week’s declarations. As an adult, I understand that Europe still does not see us for us, but seeks to absolve itself of the guilt of having helped Israel’s extermination campaign. However, as a Palestinian, I know that our survival, resistance, and will to live provide all the recognition we ever needed.”

- Nawal Hend

“How can a state recognise Palestine without calling out Zionism for what it is? The two are clearly incongruous. A sincere recognition would entail all of the following: a) the creation of a multilateral conference for the consolidation and drawing of definitive boundaries of a Palestinian state; b) the establishment of an immediate peace-keeping mission for the inviolability of said borders and safety of its people; c) the imposition of intolerable sanctions on Israel and its isolation until at the very least the genocidal elements in its government are removed and meaningful relations with the new Palestine entity are restored; d) provision of unequivocal support to the International Criminal Court in its pursuit of justice; e) restoration of the life and dignity of the Palestinian people, both in Palestine proper and its diaspora.”

- Ilias Banters

The genocide is not deniable. It is happening, and it is being documented in realtime. The photos and videos give us imagery and the voices of the people reporting and sharing their stories give us limited insight into the way it feels to live through aggression, destruction, and murder. Palestine may seem geographically distant, but our struggles are connected. Colonialism, racism, and capitalism are known to us too. The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement needs more attention and greater, more dedicated participation. Visit bdsmovement.net to see the list of targets. Make the decision to stop spending money with corporations that fund the genocide. Stop enabling Israel. Stand with the Palestinian people.