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Jurist Richard Falk discusses the double game being played by some of the European countries recently recognizing Palestine as a state in a show of concern over Israel's war of annihilation in Gaza. Their condemnation of Israel is largely symbolic, with many states continuing to do business as usual with Israel. With Western countries failing to uphold international law, Falk says civic activism is necessary to hold leaders to account. He notes the two-state solution has long since ceased to be practicable and warns that any peace plan that excludes Palestinian participation will not produce a durable peace. Falk is professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University, former UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Occupied Palestine and president of the Gaza Tribunal, an independent inquiry into British complicty in Israeli war crimes.