Expert: Like Estonia once, Palestine's recognition isn't just symbolic
The U.K. and more European states are moving to recognize Palestine, a step one expert says is symbolic for now — but, as Estonia's history shows, not to be underestimated.
About 75 percent of the UN's 193 member states currently recognize Palestine, though it lacks agreed borders, a capital or an army. Estonian Middle East expert Peeter Raudsik said that while recognition is symbolic today, it likely won't remain so.
"Make no mistake about the value of this [step]," Raudsik said. "Estonia too was occupied for a long time, and today we're still deeply grateful to those countries that never recognized the occupation here. At the moment this is symbolic, but in the long run, it's definitely anything but trivial."
Recognizing Palestine as an independent state is currently clearly a political gesture, and European support changes little. In the long term, what matters more is how attitudes shift in the United States.
Reform Party MP Eerik-Niiles Kross, chair of the Estonia-Israel parliamentary friendship group, said he sees signs of a generational shift in the U.S.
"Even just looking at what's going on at U.S. universities," he said. "Twenty years ago, everyone supported Israel. Today it's more the opposite. It raises questions about the future: when these students take office in the U.S. 15 years from now, will Israel still have support or not?"
Shifts in sentiment are also becoming increasingly visible in Estonian politics. Raudsik said consensus on the issue of Palestinian recognition is beginning to emerge, making it harder for Estonia to keep saying there is none.
"And for Estonia, the challenge here is that if until now we've been able to say there is no consensus, and make decisions on a case-by-case basis — including voting at the UN, for example — then by now it's getting increasingly harder for us to do so."
Isamaa party chair and MP Urmas Reinsalu, a former foreign minister, stressed that Estonia should base its stance on international law, and not follow others using recognition of Palestinian statehood as a political tool.
"The government's position here has shifted toward recognition, but I call on the government here to stick to Estonia's longstanding position under international law — not to recognize," he said.
--
Editor: Mari Peegel, Aili Vahtla
