A Closer Look: Does recognising Palestine as a state really change anything?

In A Closer Look, The National provides an in-depth take on one of the main stories of the week

Three European countries formally recognised the state of Palestine on Tuesday in a symbolic move meant to show a way out of the war in the Middle East.

Ireland warned Israel that it must not keep blaming civilian suffering on “tragic mistakes”, as the European nation joined Spain and Norway in making good on a recognition pledge last week.

The decision, signed off at cabinet meetings on Tuesday, is Europe's most significant step to revive a two-state solution after almost eight months of war in Gaza.

But will this change anything on the ground?

Here, host Sarah Forster talks to The National's opinion editor, Sulaiman Hakemy, about the immediate and long-term effects of more countries formally recognising the State of Palestine.

Read more

European recognition of Palestine state sparks concerns of economic fallout with Israel

Norway, Spain and Ireland recognise Palestine. What happens next?

200 days of Israel-Gaza war: in pictures

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  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

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  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

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  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

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  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

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  The view from a Jordanian flight dropping vital aid by parachute into Gaza, in March. Matthew Kynaston / The National

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  Nozha Awad flees Al Shifa hospital with her triplet children, after an Israeli raid siege began at the medical complex, in March. Reuters

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  Palestinians gather to receive aid outside a UNRWA warehouse, in March. Reuters

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  A family end their fast amid the rubble of their destroyed home, during Ramadan in Rafah, in March. Reuters

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  Wafaa Tabasi with her twin malnourished daughters, at Al Awda health centre in Rafah, in March. Reuters

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  Palestinians carry bags of flour taken from an aid lorry near an Israeli checkpoint in Gaza City, in February. Reuters

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  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

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  Palestinian Muhammad Al Durra with his children in the ruins of a house in Rafah where they sheltered on January 11, 2024. EPA

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  Family and friends at the funerals of journalists Hamza Al Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuraya on January 7, 2024 in Rafah, Gaza. Getty Images

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  Palestinians mourn relatives killed by Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip outside a mortuary in Khan Younis January 4, 2024. AP Photo

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  Displaced Palestinians queue to bake bread at a camp in the Muwasi area of Rafah, Gaza Strip, on December 23, 2023. AP Photo

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  Palestinians queue for food in Rafah, the Gaza Strip, on December 20, 2023. AP Photo

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  The ruins of Rafah on December 14, 2023. AFP

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  Palestinians wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip arrive at a hospital in Khan Younis on December 8, 2023. AP Photo

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  Palestinians flee Israeli bombing along the Salaheddine Road in the Zeitoun district of Gaza city on November 28, 2023. AFP

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  A Red Cross vehicle takes Israeli hostages from the Gaza Strip into Egypt in Rafah on November 25, 2023. AP

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  The ruins of buildings in Gaza city on November 24, 2023, as a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas took effect. AP Photo

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  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

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  Mourning the dead of Israeli bombardment outside the mortuary at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis on November 14, 2023. AFP

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  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

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  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

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  Searching the rubble after Israeli air strikes on the town of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on October 26, 2023. AP Photo

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  Mourning the Kotz family at their funeral in Gan Yavne, Israel, on October 17, 2023. AP Photo

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  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

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  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

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  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