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Leaders of Norway, Ireland, Spain, to recognise Palestinian state on May 28
The leaders of Norway, Ireland and Spain said their countries will formally recognise Palestine as a state next week for the sake of “peace in the Middle East“, prompting Israel to immediately recall its envoys.
Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said on Wednesday that a two-state solution was in Israel’s best interest and the recognition of Palestinian statehood would come as of May 28.
“There cannot be peace in the Middle East if there is no recognition,” he said in Oslo.ment in Dublin, as did Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in Madrid, to applause in parliament.
“In the midst of a war, with tens of thousands killed and injured [in Gaza], 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,” Gahr Store said.
Recognition of Palestine is a means of supporting the moderate forces which have been losing ground in this protracted and brutal conflict,” he said.
Harris told a news conference, “I’m confident that further countries will join us in taking this important step in the coming weeks.”
Ireland’s Foreign Minister Micheal Martin said on X that the recognition will take place on May 28.
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Sanchez, while announcing that Spain’s council of ministers would also recognise an independent Palestinian state on May 28, accused his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu of putting the two-state solution in “danger” with his policy of “pain and destruction” in Gaza.
“We hope that our recognition and our reasons contribute to other Western countries to follow this path, because the more we are, the more strength we will have to have the imposition of ceasefire,” Sanchez said.
Harris also said that Ireland was unequivocal in recognising Israel’s right to exist “securely and in peace with its neighbours”, and called for all captives in Gaza to be immediately returned.
But let me also be clear, Hamas is not the Palestinian people … a two-state solution is the only way out of the generational cycles of violence, retaliation and resentment,” he added.
At least 35,709 people have been killed and 79,990 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from Hamas’s October 7 attack is 1,139, with dozens still held captive.
Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan, reporting from Amman, Jordan, said that Malta and Slovenia were also expected to make similar announcements.
“This is a momentous occasion for the Palestinians,” he said.
“It’s perhaps unsurprising that Norway has taken the lead on this because they were behind the Oslo Accords – the agreement in 1993 that really did two things: it recognised the Palestine Liberation Organization, the PLO, as the legitimate representatives of the Palestinian people,” Khan added.
Diplomatic Editor James Bays said the move by the three countries was significant for two reasons: “momentum and timing”.
“Just look at the week that Prime Minister Netanyahu has had,” he said, referring to the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor’s announcement that he was seeking an arrest warrant for the Israeli leader, among others, and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) hearings on
South Africa’s request for a ruling to stop the Israeli offensive in Rafah, southern Gaza.
Saudi Arabia and Jordan welcomed the decision.
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