LATEST: Live updates as Norway, Spain and Ireland recognise state of Palestine
Norway, Spain and Ireland on Wednesday announced that they would recognise the state of Palestine in a highly symbolic move that leaders described as aimed at achieving a long-lasting peace in the region.
Their co-ordinated decision brings the number of countries that recognise a Palestinian state to at least 141. Western states comprise the majority of countries that have so far refused recognition, with most saying they would wait until peace negotiations – effectively giving Israel veto power.
But Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said that recognition had become necessary in the absence of a peace process and the mounting death toll in the Israel-Gaza war.
“Neither the Palestinian nor the Israeli people can live their lives in security. That is why we need to think differently and act accordingly. We can no longer wait for the conflict to be resolved before we recognise the state of Palestine,” said Mr Store.
“In the midst of a war, with tens of thousands killed and injured, we must keep alive the only alternative that offers a political solution for Israelis and Palestinians alike: two states, living side by side, in peace and security,” he said. Formal recognition will take place on May 28.
Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris said that recognition was “the only credible path to peace and security for Israel, for Palestine and for their peoples”.
Israeli protests
Israel responded by recalling its ambassadors from Norway and Ireland, in protest at what Foreign Minister Israel Katz described as an “Irish-Norwegian folly”. Israeli politicians claim that recognition will embolden Hamas.
“Today, I am sending a sharp message to Ireland and Norway: Israel will not go over this in silence. I have just ordered the return of the Israeli ambassadors from Dublin and Oslo to Israel for further consultations in Jerusalem,” Mr Katz said on X ahead of Ireland's planned announcement.
Mr Katz threatened to do the same with Spain.
The recognition of Palestinian statehood by Norway, Spain and Ireland comes almost eight months after Israel began strikes on Gaza following an attack by Hamas-led militants on Israeli communities on October 7, killing around 1,200 people and abducting another 240.
It might encourage other European countries towards recognition, said Mr Store. “This could ultimately make it possible to resume the process towards achieving a two-state solution and give it renewed momentum,” he said.
The death toll from the Israeli onslaught on Gaza has now passed 35,600, and there has been a shift in public opinion in Europe in favour of recognition of Palestinian statehood, analysts say.
“To be impactful, recognition of Palestine must be matched with tangible steps to counter Israel’s annexation and settlement of Palestinian territory – such as banning settlement products and financial services,” said Hugh Lovatt, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations think-tank.
“European governments should also use this as an opportunity to press Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to implement a package of reciprocal steps to revive Palestinian institutions and restore national unity,” he said.
Those who defend recognition say that it will bring more security to the entire region.
“So many countries in the West say they support a two-state solution but only recognise one [Israel], so there's a contradiction,” said Haizam Amirah-Fernandez, professor of international relations at IE University in Madrid.
He said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had long sought to stymie the creation of a Palestinian state.
“Successive Netanyahu governments have tried to prevent any possible negotiation and claim there is no way of establishing a Palestinian state. That is what led us to October 7 and its aftermath,” Mr Amirah-Fernandez told The National.
Historic parallels
A vote at the UN's General Assembly earlier this month showed overwhelming backing to recognise a Palestinian state. Countries that have already done so include the 22 members of the Arab League and the 57-nation Organisation of Islamic Co-operation.
“Efforts are under way to draw up a comprehensive Arab peace vision. A number of Arab countries are involved in this, and recognition of Palestine as a state is a key component,” said Norwegian Foreign Affairs Minister Espen Barth Eide.
“Norway is co-operating closely with Saudi Arabia and is taking active steps to mobilise European support for the Arab peace vision.”
Mr Harris established a parallel with Ireland's own struggle for independence from the British government, which started in 1919.
“Our message to the free nations of the world was a plea for international recognition of our independence, emphasising our distinct national identity, our historical struggle and our right to self-determination and justice,” he said.
“Today, we use the same language to support the recognition of Palestine as a state. We do so because we believe in freedom and justice as fundamental principles of international law and because we believe that permanent peace can only be secured upon the basis of the free will of a free people.”
Two hundred days of Israel Gaza war – in pictures
-
Palestinians move with their belongings on a road lined with destroyed buildings, in Khan Younis, in the south of the Gaza Strip, on April 22. AFP -
An infant saved from the womb of her mother Sabreen Al Sheikh, who was killed in an Israeli strike along with her husband Shokri and her daughter Malak, lies in an incubator at Al Emirati hospital in Rafah, on April 21. Reuters -
A man rides a bicycle, on April 2, past a damaged vehicle where employees from the World Central Kitchen non-profit, including foreigners, were killed in an Israeli air strike. Reuters -
A woman at the damaged Al Shifa Hospital, on April 1, after Israeli forces withdrew from the medical complex following a two-week siege. Reuters -
The view from a Jordanian flight dropping vital aid by parachute into Gaza, in March. Matthew Kynaston / The National -
Nozha Awad flees Al Shifa hospital with her triplet children, after an Israeli raid siege began at the medical complex, in March. Reuters -
Palestinians gather to receive aid outside a UNRWA warehouse, in March. Reuters -
A family end their fast amid the rubble of their destroyed home, during Ramadan in Rafah, in March. Reuters -
Wafaa Tabasi with her twin malnourished daughters, at Al Awda health centre in Rafah, in March. Reuters -
Palestinians carry bags of flour taken from an aid lorry near an Israeli checkpoint in Gaza City, in February. Reuters -
Fernando Simon Marman and Louis Hare, two Israeli hostages who, according to the Israeli military, were freed in a special forces operation in Rafah, reunite with loved ones at Sheba Medical Centre, in Ramat Gan, Israel, in February. Reuters -
Palestinian Muhammad Al Durra with his children in the ruins of a house in Rafah where they sheltered on January 11, 2024. EPA -
Family and friends at the funerals of journalists Hamza Al Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuraya on January 7, 2024 in Rafah, Gaza. Getty Images -
Palestinians mourn relatives killed by Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip outside a mortuary in Khan Younis January 4, 2024. AP Photo -
Displaced Palestinians queue to bake bread at a camp in the Muwasi area of Rafah, Gaza Strip, on December 23, 2023. AP Photo -
Palestinians queue for food in Rafah, the Gaza Strip, on December 20, 2023. AP Photo -
The ruins of Rafah on December 14, 2023. AFP -
Palestinians wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip arrive at a hospital in Khan Younis on December 8, 2023. AP Photo -
Palestinians flee Israeli bombing along the Salaheddine Road in the Zeitoun district of Gaza city on November 28, 2023. AFP -
A Red Cross vehicle takes Israeli hostages from the Gaza Strip into Egypt in Rafah on November 25, 2023. AP -
The ruins of buildings in Gaza city on November 24, 2023, as a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas took effect. AP Photo -
A woman and her cat return home to eastern Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip during the first hours of a four-day truce between Israel and Hamas forces on November 24, 2023. AFP -
Mourning the dead of Israeli bombardment outside the mortuary at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis on November 14, 2023. AFP -
Civilians and rescuers look for survivors in the rubble of a building after Israeli bombing of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on November 12, 2023. AFP -
November 7, 2023, a month to the day after Hamas attacked Israel, a victim of an Israeli bombardment in Rafah is moved from the rubble. AFP -
Searching the rubble after Israeli air strikes on the town of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on October 26, 2023. AP Photo -
Mourning the Kotz family at their funeral in Gan Yavne, Israel, on October 17, 2023. AP Photo -
An Israeli firefighter composes himself after he and his colleagues extinguished cars set on fire by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip in Ashkelon, Israel, on October 9, 2023. AP Photo -
Palestinians with the wreckage of an Israeli tank at the Gaza Strip fence east of the city of Khan Younis on October 7, 2023, the day Hamas forces swept unopposed into Israel. AP Photo -
Israeli police officers evacuate a woman and a child from a site hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in Ashkelon, southern Israel, on October 7, 2023. AP Photo
