ABSTRACT
The events of 2011-12 were both surprising and turbulent. The so-called ‘Arab Spring’ rocked the Middle East and confounded commentators, academics and policy makers,1 many of whom had been pondering the apparent exceptional ‘robustness’ of the region’s authoritarianism for quite some time. For a time, the region-wide unrest also seemed to overshadow the question of Palestine in international forums. This would not last, however. At the international level, the PLO forged ahead with plans to have Palestine recognised as a ‘state’.2 This project would turn out to be successful to some extent. Within the context of the UN General Assembly, Palestine won an elevation to ‘non-member observer’ status with a vote in November 2012. A number of friendly states and some parliaments – including Britain, France and Ireland in 2014, though this did not change their governments’ position (Black 2014) – also recognised Palestine or upgraded its status. The final hurdle of acceptance by the UN Security Council had never really looked achievable, and in the end it was not.
