ABSTRACT
The year 2017 marks 50 years since the beginning of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories. In an effort to bring it to an end, the Palestinian leadership pursued a strategy of formal internationalization of the conflict, seeking recognition of Palestinian “statehood”. This article explores the nature and meaning of these efforts in six distinct phases between 2009 and 2017. It concludes that these efforts were driven primarily by frustration with the stagnation of negotiations and toward the goal of jump starting them. However, it concludes that, according to a range of metrics, the Palestinian leaderships’ efforts had little direct effect on the – apparently shock absorbent – status quo.
