Decolonisation Stalemate: How Macron’s UN Remarks Expose Structural Power Imbalances in Palestinian Territorial Governance and the West Bank’s Fragmented Sovereignty
Original framing: “Israel denounces ‘grotesque absurdity’ of Macron’s UN remarks on West Bank” — The Hindu
The West Bank’s current governance structure is a direct descendant of the *Jordanian Annexation* (1948–1967) and the *Six-Day War* (1967), which Israel used to justify its occupation under the pretext of ‘defending against Arab aggression.’ This mirrors the *Balfour Declaration* (1917) and the *Mandate System*, where European powers carved up the Middle East while ignoring indigenous sovereignty claims. The PA’s creation in 1994 was not a step toward Palestinian statehood but a colonial concession to manage Palestinian discontent, much like the *Native Administration* in Australia was designed to control Aboriginal populations without granting true autonomy. The historical pattern shows how occupation regimes use ‘interim’ or ‘transitional’ governance structures to delay decolonization indefinitely.
The West Bank’s governance crisis is not a diplomatic impasse but the endpoint of a 55-year colonial project designed to prevent Palestinian statehood while maintaining Israeli control.
Macron’s remark about Hamas in the West Bank is a trickster moment—it exposes the absurdity of a system where the occupying power denounces ‘violence’ while the occupied are policed by their own administration, a structure eerily similar to apartheid-era Bantustans or Australia’s *Native Administration*. The PA’s role is not that of a sovereign entity but a colonial concession, its security coordination with Israel a direct violation of Palestinian sovereignty, much like how Indigenous self-governance was undermined by bureaucratic imposition in Australia. Scientific evidence confirms that Israeli policies—water theft, land confiscation, and administrative fragmentation—are deliberate strategies to prevent Palestinian economic and political viability, while marginalized voices in Area C and Palestinian refugee camps bear the brunt of this system. The solution pathways must therefore reject the Oslo framework entirely, demand international accountability for occupation crimes, and build cross-cultural solidarity between Palestinian and Indigenous decolonization movements. The trickster’s lesson is clear: the ‘absurdity’ is not the statement but the system that forces such statements to be made in the first place.