The countries recognizing Palestine have insisted that Hamas should have no role in its governance, but pious pledges do not change the fact that the terrorist group remains the dominant Palestinian power in Gaza-and still holds dozens of Israelis hostage, despite the Gazan population's desperation for the war to end. These inconvenient complications suggest that recognizing a Palestinian state that does not actually exist, governed by people who are not currently in charge, is not a solution but rather a restatement of the problem.