Over the years, the idea of a Palestinian state has won wide approval throughout the Arab world and the international community. Today, Ashrawi noted, there is a global consensus in favor of the establishment of a Palestinian state. The majority of Israelis recognize that the formation of a Palestinian state is inevitable, even if many of them do not necessarily endorse it. Palestinians are represented in regional and international fora. They have national institutions which perform a variety of official functions.
Palestinian officials host, interact with, and are received regularly by their foreign counterparts.
Given these developments, Ashrawi believes that a Palestinian state has already taken shape. Palestinian statehood, she contended, is the collective implementation of a right as well as a reality. As a right, it is subject neither to negotiation nor to others approval. Nor, as a right, can statehood be portrayed as a unilateral act equivalent, say, to Israel s building and expansion of settlements or annexation of Jerusalem. Furthermore, Ashrawi argued, representing Palestinian statehood ipso facto as a threat to Israel s security is a distortion that must be challenged.