NORWAY, Ireland and Spain on Wednesday announced they will recognise a Palestinian state from next week, highlighting the European Union’s deep split over the issue as the Israel-Hamas war rages.
The three nations hope other countries will follow suit, but France said now was not the right moment — yet Paris noted recognition was not “taboo”.
The announcement by Prime Ministers Jonas Gahr Store of Norway, Spain’s Pedro Sanchez and Simon Harris of Ireland came days after the International Criminal Court prosecutor said he would seek arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister and Hamas leaders.
Sanchez, who has visited several nations to drum up support for recognition, said the move would reinforce efforts to revive a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict.
Sanchez said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was jeopardising those efforts with the devastating Gaza offensive that has raged since Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel.
“Fighting the Hamas group is legitimate and necessary after October 7, but Netanyahu is causing so much pain, destruction and resentment in Gaza and the rest of Palestine that the two-state solution is in danger,” Sanchez told parliament.
Israel reacted with fury again, immediately recalling its envoys to the three nations.
“The intention of several European countries to recognise a Palestinian state is a reward for terror,” Netanyahu said, adding a sovereign State of Palestine would be a “terror state”.
The Palestine Liberation Organization hailed the move as “historical”. Gaza’s rulers Hamas praised what it called an “important step” that resulted from the “brave resistance” of Palestinians.
According to the Palestinian Authority, which rules parts of the occupied West Bank, 142 of the 193 UN members already recognise a Palestinian state.
Sweden, which has a large Palestinian community, became the first European Union member in Western Europe to recognise Palestinian statehood in 2014.
