T

he call from Europe'€™s new foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, for a Palestinian state on Nov. 8 has furthered Palestinians'€™ dreams of founding their own country. The Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia at the end of 2010 motivated the Middle East'€™s desire for reform, and inspired the Arab spring.

Its effect soon swept to almost every Arab country. Meanwhile, Palestinians have seized the opportunity presented by this movement, becoming a UNESCO member state on Oct. 31, 2011.

Moreover, on Nov. 29, 2012, the UN General Assembly held a vote to upgrade Palestine to the status of a non-member observer state. Although the United States and Israel expressed strong opposition, the overwhelming number of advocates -- 138 UN members'€”moved Palestine one step further forward in its pursuit of independence.

The Arab Spring has worsened Israel'€™s condition in the Middle East since 2010. Take Egypt and Syria, for example; they have both taken action in response to calls for democracy and reform of their governments. Some of the pro-Israel Arab governments have been overthrown, and Israel cannot do anything about it.

After the turmoil in the Arab world, the United States was eager to implement a new Middle East policy to cope with the situation. A considerable number of analysts believed that the US could not intervene in this tide too deeply because of the huge potential economic impact on Jewish-American citizens. After the Arab Spring, the US seemed to display a positive attitude toward Arab countries, but has nonetheless maintained a firm stance against Palestinian statehood.

After being promoted as an observer at the United Nations in 2012, the Palestinians have high expectations for their dream of building a country. They also tried to sue Israeli officials in the international court for the violation of international human rights. However, despite the fact that several Arab countries, including Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Tunisia, have reformed their governments, they are still plagued by domestic problems that prevent them from uniting as a strong power to stand against Israel.

Another reason to restrict Palestinian statehood is their economic condition. So far, the Palestinians still rely heavily on aid from international communities. According to a Taiwanese Middle East researcher, Tsung-Sheng Lin, when he walked on the streets of the West Bank, he found that the economy was dominated by the tourism and agriculture industries, and had a lack of large-scale manufacturing.

The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics in 2013 showed that the unemployment rate in the West Bank was higher than 20 percent. In the Gaza strip, meanwhile, over 30 percent of inhabitants were unemployed. It is believed that after several weeks of bombardment, the economic situation had deteriorated sharply.

In addition to external factors and financial shortcomings, political disintegration also makes Palestinian statehood difficult. The past 26 years have seen the emergence of many Palestinian political parties, including the Palestine Liberation Organization, Hamas and the al-Qassam Brigades. They do not trust each other and each has an autonomous political idea and armed forces, which makes the situation more complicated.

Overcoming the internal and external challenges will depend upon cooperation between the Palestinian people and different political parties, as well as a true peace deal with the Israeli authorities.

Cynthia Wang
Taiwan