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Palestinians are getting the recognition they have waited decades for. Over the weekend, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and others recognised Palestine as a sovereign state. France is expected to make a similar formal announcement later today at a U.N. conference in New York. But after almost two years of war in Gaza, many Palestinians are not in the mood to celebrate. NPR's Carrie Kahn reports.
CARRIE KAHN, BYLINE: Basil Rujoub (ph) is taking a break at a new, huge mall atop a hill in Ramallah, the commercial center of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
BASIL RUJOUB: (Speaking Arabic).
KAHN: "It makes us proud to see so many standing with us," he says, referring to those countries recognizing a Palestinian state. Since the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas that sparked the war in Gaza, the West Bank economy has been in crisis. Public servants' salaries have been slashed, like Rujoub, an elementary school teacher. Unemployment has skyrocketed. Citing security risks, Israel canceled work permits for some 200,000 Palestinians, and residents are facing the toughest travel restrictions in years.
SARA MOHAMMED: I go, like, a month - my friend also. We go months without seeing our family 'cause the roads are so tough.
KAHN: Sara Mohammed and Biso (ph), also with the last name Mohammed, are both 20 and both study computer engineering at nearby Birzeit University and are hanging out at the mostly deserted mall. They live on campus but try to get to their hometowns when they can. There are now more than 1,200 checkpoints and gates in the West Bank, according to Palestinian authorities. Both say they want more than just recognition. Here's Sada first.
S MOHAMMED: We want actions. We want people to speak up, to change something, not to just say it and move on.
KAHN: And Biso.
BISO MOHAMMED: I'm so done of hearing people, like, talking about the thing without actions being done, actually. Like, we're so tired. I feel like we're no longer that much recognized as human beings, actually. It's devastating.
KAHN: The muted mood here is a far cry from celebrations that broke out back in 2012, when the United Nations upgraded Palestine to observer state status.
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KAHN: Back then, huge crowds watched the vote on big screen TVs in the main square of Ramallah. This year, though, nothing is planned for today's formal announcement or for the U.N. address by the president of the Palestinian Authority later in the week. He'll be speaking via video, says Dr. Omar Awadallah, the Palestinian Authority's deputy minister of foreign affairs. The U.S. denied visas for most of the Palestinian delegation, citing in part their lobbying for recognition, which Awadallah says is more than symbolic.
OMAR AWADALLAH: It's practical. It's a recognition of the rights of the Palestinian people, mainly the natural, the moral, the legal right of the Palestinian people to self-determination.
KAHN: At an event in Jerusalem last week during the visit of U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, says recognition rewards Hamas for terrorism. He pledged Israel would retaliate.
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PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: Any unilateral action can be met with unilateral action, and there will be no Palestinian state.
KAHN: Deputy Foreign Minister Dr. Omar Awadallah says Netanyahu will not deter them.
AWADALLAH: The Palestinian people is a fact, and we will be staying here.
KAHN: And a Palestinian state will happen sooner or later, he says.
Carrie Kahn, NPR News, Ramallah. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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