Canada’s decision, Carney said, was predicated on commitments from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to fundamentally reform Palestinian governance, hold general elections in 2026 in which Hamas could play no part and demilitarize a future Palestinian state.
uncertain
Hamas → say → state
These conditions never answered the most obvious objection to Canada’s policy: Why recognize a state before the institutions capable of governing it peacefully and democratically actually exist?
asserted
institutions → answer → it
Canada went ahead and did it anyway.
asserted
Canada → go → it
Israel is treated as a country whose leaders make choices and must live with their consequences.
asserted
leaders → treat → consequences
Palestinians are treated as a people to whom history happens.
asserted
history → treat → whom
Israel must accept a ceasefire, restrain its military, halt settlement expansion, negotiate with its enemies, make territorial concessions and articulate a credible political horizon.
asserted
Israel → accept → horizon
Some of those demands are reasonable and others can be debated, but they all make it clear that Israel possesses agency.
asserted
Israel → debate → agency
Mahmoud Abbas was elected president in 2005 and has remained in office ever since, despite repeatedly promising to hold elections.
asserted
Abbas → elect → elections
Hamas spent years turning Gaza into a terrorist stronghold before launching the deadliest attack against Jews since the Holocaust.
asserted
Hamas → spend → Holocaust
Palestinian politics remain fractured, corruption is endemic within the Palestinian Authority and its education system continues to glorify violence and deny the Jewish people’s historical connection to the land.
asserted
system → remain → land
Yet the diplomatic dogma remains overwhelmingly focused on what everyone else should do for Palestinians.
asserted
everyone → remain → Palestinians
Israel should change its policies and tactics.
asserted
Israel → change → policies
Washington should exert more pressure on Israel.
asserted
Washington → exert → Israel
Western governments should recognize Palestine, the United Nations should confer greater legitimacy and donor countries should provide more assistance.
asserted
countries → recognize → assistance
What, precisely, are Palestinian leaders expected to do?
asserted
leaders → expect → ?
Expecting nothing is not allyship, it’s paternalism.
asserted
it → expect → nothing
If Palestinians are entitled to sovereignty, as the Carney government believes they are, then Palestinian leaders should be responsible for building the institutions that make sovereignty viable.
asserted
sovereignty → believe → institutions
They should be responsible for whether their people vote, whether public money rewards violence, whether schools prepare children for co-existence and whether their political culture treats negotiation and compromise as diplomacy or betrayal.
asserted
culture → vote → diplomacy
None of this absolves Israel of responsibility for its actions.
asserted
None → absolve → actions
It is held accountable for the decisions of its elected government because that is what it means to treat a nation as a sovereign political actor.
asserted
it → hold → actor
Palestinians deserve the same standard.
asserted
Palestinians → deserve → standard
Successful states are built on institutions, accountability, the rule of law and political leadership capable and willing to make difficult choices.
asserted
states → build → choices
Foreign governments cannot manufacture a viable Palestinian state by removing the expectations placed on the people who would govern it.
asserted
who → manufacture → it
This is what makes Canada’s decision so baffling.
asserted
decision → make → ?
Ottawa granted one of the Palestinians’ most important diplomatic objectives before the reforms it deemed essential to statehood had been adopted.
asserted
it → grant → statehood
The message was that Palestinian leaders could receive the benefits of statehood before demonstrating their willingness or ability to assume its responsibilities.
uncertain
leaders → receive → responsibilities
The international community speaks about Palestinian dignity and self-determination.
asserted
community → speak → dignity
Treating Palestinians with dignity means recognizing they are not victims of forces beyond their control, but a people whose leaders make choices about war and peace, democracy and authoritarianism, education and incitement, corruption and good governance.
asserted
leaders → treat → war
The refusal to hold those leaders accountable has real consequences.
asserted
leaders → hold → consequences
A Palestinian born when Mahmoud Abbas was elected president could now be old enough to have children without ever having voted in a presidential election.
uncertain
Abbas → bear → election
Nor should Hamas’s continued armed presence in Gaza be treated as an unfortunate fact that everyone else must accommodate.
asserted
everyone → treat → that
Its leaders made choices, its members committed atrocities and its continued brutality carries consequences for the society in which it operates.
asserted
it → make → which
A serious commitment to Palestinian statehood requires more accountability, not less.
asserted
commitment → require → accountability
Canada says it wants Palestinians to exercise the right of self-determination.
asserted
Palestinians → say → determination
Then it should treat them as a people capable of exercising it, with all the responsibilities that entails.
asserted
that → treat → responsibilities
Palestinians do not need the international community to expect less of them.
asserted
community → need → them
They need it to take their aspirations seriously enough to expect more.
asserted
it → need → more
The Aporia
