Why is…the Recognition of Palestinian Statehood Causing Debate?

About this episode

The episode discusses the recent recognition of Palestinian statehood and its implications.

In this special Voices episode, we unpack the recent recognition of Palestinian statehood by several Western governments, including the UK, France, Portugal, Canada, and Australia. The move came shortly after a UN Special Committee report finding Israel’s actions in Gaza consistent with genocide. This historic decision has sparked intense debate about the timing, motivations, and consequences of recognising Palestine as a state. Emile Badarin (University of Oxford) and Victor Kattan (University of Nottingham) join host Polly Pallister-Wilkins to discuss these developments and examine the broader politics and legal aspects of recognition within the long struggle for Palestinian statehood. Emile Badarin is a researcher based in Oxford and the author of Recognition Politics in Settler Colonial States: Normalizing Dispossession and Elimination in Palestine (Bloomsbury 2025) and Palestinian Political Discourse: Between Exile and Occupation (Routledge 2016). His work explores coloniality, settler colonialism, and the international politics surrounding Palestinian recognition. Victor Kattan is Assistant Professor in Public International Law at the University of Nottingham and has…

People in this episode

Host: Polly Pallister-Wilkins

Guests: Emile Badarin, Victor Kattan

Topics covered

• Palestinian statehood
• international recognition
• genocide
• Middle East politics
• legal aspects of recognition
• Arab-Israeli conflict

Keywords

• Palestinian statehood
• recognition
• genocide
• international law
• Middle East
• politics
• Emile Badarin
• Victor Kattan

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of Oxford, University of Nottingham, Bloomsbury, Routledge, Pluto Press, BIICL

Places: Palestine, Israel, UK, France, Portugal, Canada, Australia

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