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Author : E. Litvinova
Attache, Department for Nonproliferation and Arms Control, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russ-
ian Federation
THE ISSUE OF PALESTINE is unique, and not
only because it is part and parcel of the Middle East
conflict and attempts to solve it.
It will be essential to mention here that unrecognized
states are an old problem in international political
practice. Some of the modern states have been
through periods of non-recognition that spanned
years. The contradiction in international law between
the right of nations to self-determination and the
principle of territorial integrity is a potential source of unrecognized states.
This article analyzes the political crisis of 2006 with the split within the PNA, and assesses effects
of Palestine's receiving observer status at the United Nations in 2012.
The article also explores internal and external factors in building post-colonial states in the Middle
East with a focus on forming Palestinian statehood.
First of all, understanding statehood and stateness as aspects of a state is essential for under-
standing the rudiments of the institutionalization of Palestine.
One problem of studies by many European and American political scientists is that they focus
on democratic development. However, the reality is that many countries in Asia and Africa cannot
successfully borrow the nation-state formula from the West and fail to take adequate political
control of their territory. This means that, in many instances, it is premature to speak of democ-
racy.
In a word, there were such intense political and ideological controversies and such serious mutual
territorial and economic claims that it proved impossible to develop any effective pan-regional
cooperation (e.g., in the Arab League format).
IN THE EARLY 1990S, a new situation took shape in the Middle East conflict. The end to the
Kuwait conflict paved the way to the Madrid Conference of 1991, an international peace forum
on the Middle East that, among other things, led to an accord between the PLO and Israel called
the Declaration of Principles.
The most important point in that document, which had been drafted by both sides, was an agree-
ment "to put an end to decades of confrontation and conflict, recognize their mutual legitimate
and political rights."
With the internal situation in Palestine becoming complicated, the PNA leadership decided to
provoke an armed confrontation and force Israel to accept all its demands.
EARLY IN OCTOBER 2000, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank again became scenes of bloody
The Role of Palestinian Domestic Actors and Political Elites in In-
stitutionalizing the State of Palestine