Spain, Ireland and Norway recognise Palestinian statehood

May 28, MADRID, DUBLIN, OSLO (Reuters) – Amidst over seven months of conflict in Gaza, Israel has become increasingly isolated. However, on Tuesday, Spain, Ireland, and Norway formally recognized a Palestinian state.

Pedro Sanchez, the prime minister of Spain, stated in a broadcast speech that “it’s the only way of advancing toward what everyone recognises as the only possible solution to achieve a peaceful future, one of a Palestinian state that lives side by side with the Israeli state in peace and security.”
He declared that Spain was acknowledging the creation of the Palestinian National Authority, which would include the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and have East Jerusalem as its capital.

Following this development, 146 of the 193 UN members now recognize the state of Palestine, according to a statement made by Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares on Tuesday.
The decision has been well received by the Palestinian Authority, which has limited self-government in the West Bank under Israeli military control.
According to Sanchez, Madrid would not accept any alterations to borders from before 1967 unless all parties approved them.
The Palestinian mission in Ireland will now have the status of an embassy, and Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs said last week that it would designate an ambassador and elevate its representative office in Ramallah, West Bank, to an embassy.

Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris said in a statement, “We have made this move alongside Spain and Norway to keep the miracle of peace alive. We had wanted to recognise Palestine at the end of a peace process.”

Israel has denounced the action several times. It claims to support Hamas, the Islamist militant organization that carried out the horrific attack on Israel on October 7 that started the conflict in the Gaza Strip, which is ruled by Hamas.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz posted on X on Tuesday, saying, “Sanchez, when you… recognize a Palestinian state, you are complicit in incitement to genocide against the Jewish people and in war crimes.”

DIVIDED OPINION

A Palestinian state has already been recognized by Sweden, Cyprus, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Romania, and Bulgaria, out of the 27 members of the European Union. Malta has stated that it is thinking about making the step, while Slovenia is anticipated to approve recognition on Thursday.
Australia and Britain have stated that they are thinking about recognizing Israel, but France, a member of the EU, has stated that the moment is not right. Germany has also joined the United States, Israel’s most ardent friend, in opposing a unilateral approach and maintaining that negotiations are the only way to bring about a two-state solution.
Up until recently, Norway, the chair of the international donor group to the Palestinians, had agreed with the U.S. viewpoint but had begun to doubt the effectiveness of this tactic.

Spanish people have historically sided with the Palestinians. According to a Real Instituto Elcano poll, the percentage of Spaniards who support a two-state solution has increased from 40% in 2021 to 60% in April since Israel launched its operation on Gaza in response to the Oct. 7 incident.
According to Gaza’s health ministry, over 36,000 Palestinians have died in the fighting. Israel claims that more than 250 hostages were seized during the bloodiest attack in its 75-year history on October 7, which claimed 1,200 lives.
Marie Antoinette Sedin, who is currently the Palestinian ambassador to Norway, praised the recognition decision.

“It’s a step forward to end the war, to end the occupation and to give the Palestinian people the right to exist in their own independent state, living with dignity, freedom and peace,” Sedin stated to Reuters.
Political science student Abril Armengol stated that although Spain took too long to act, recognition was the right move at a protest camp at Complutense University in Madrid.
Armengol, 22, stated, “Pedro Sanchez’s decision is totally on target, but it’s a bit late.”
In response to the effort toward recognition, Israel called in its ambassadors from Oslo, Dublin, and Madrid and made them see footage of Israelis being kidnapped by Hamas militants.

Along with accusing Spain of aiding Hamas, it also prohibited Spain from offering consular services to Palestinians residing in the West Bank. Spanish criticism of the Gaza conflict has risen in response, with the country calling it a “real genocide.”
On Monday, Spain announced that it will approach other European Union countries to formally support the International Court of Justice’s ruling from last week, which ordered Israel to cease its military attack on Rafah, a city in southern Gaza.
Sanchez, meanwhile, made an appeal for the hostages’ release and denounced Hamas on Tuesday in an attempt to defuse the situation. The International Court of Justice demanded last week that the captives detained in Gaza be freed.
“It is not a decision we take against anyone, certainly not against Israel,” Sanchez stated. “We want to have the best possible relationship.”

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