4. Conclusion: Human Rights Approach to
Self-Determination
The above analysis has shown that Palestinian self-determination must occur on
the whole of Mandatory Palestine and is owed to the Palestinian people as a whole,
consisting of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, including Jerusalem,
Palestinian refugees, and Palestinians with Israeli citizenship. Any attempt to
practice self-determination outside of this would not constitute an adequate
execution of this right as it would only include a portion of the Palestinian people
and only a portion of the land that they are entitled to exercise self-determination
on. Considering that the Israeli apartheid-colonial regime is obstructing this
realization, the only viable legal approach that would allow for the Palestinian
right to self-determination must emerge from the achievement of the right
to decolonization owed to the Palestinian people on the Palestinian territory
within its mandatory period borders as a sine qua non condition.
Thus far, by limiting the personal and territorial constituting pillars of the
Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, the international community has
contributed to perpetuating Israel’s denial of the Palestinian people’s right to selfdetermination. This is particularly palpable in the so-called peace process, dating
back to the Oslo Accords in 1993. The most recent proposal in the peace process,
the “Deal of the Century”, proposed creating a non-contiguous, capitulated
Palestinian entity with Israeli-regulated borders and connected by Israelicontrolled bridges, tunnels, and roads.37 Not only is this short of a sovereign
state, but it is also in no way an exercise of the Palestinian people’s right to
self-determination. Importantly, although statehood and self-determination are
deemed indivisible, they are not synonymous. Altogether, achieving statehood is
a means to access political, social, economic, and cultural development as well as
living in dignity and a state’s inability to provides this deems it virtually useless.
For the Palestinian people, therefore, having a “state” as is currently
proposed by the peace process which is due to exist within the Israeli
colonial-apartheid framework is unfeasible because it is embedded in the
denial of Palestinian inalienable rights.
37 BADIL, “Trump’s so-called Vision/Deal of the Century: A Move to End the Palestinian Refugee Issue
Through Serious Breaches of International Law,” position paper, (BADIL: Bethlehem, 2020), available
at: https://www.badil.org/phocadownloadpap/badil-new/publications/research/in-focus/Deal-of-theCentury-Refugee-Issue(PositionPaper-May2020).pdf
15