They hope to lead other countries to do the same. Spain, Ireland and Norway announced on Wednesday May 22 their coordinated decision to recognize a Palestinian state, while the two-state solution is “in danger” in the midst of the war in Gaza.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre was the first to announce this recognition on May 28, at the same time launching “a strong call” to other countries to do the same.
Hailing a “historic day”, his Irish counterpart Simon Harris followed shortly after, as did Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, one of the most critical voices towards the military operation launched by Israel in the Gaza Strip.
“Prime Minister (Benyamin) Netanyahu has no peace project for Palestine,” the Spanish socialist leader denounced to the deputies. “Fighting the terrorist group Hamas 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,” he said. he said. The recognition of a Palestinian state by Madrid will also take place on May 28, the date of the next council of ministers, said Pedro Sánchez.
142 countries recognize a Palestinian state
According to the Palestinian Authority’s count, 142 countries of the 193 UN member states have so far announced that they recognize a Palestinian state. The joint initiative of Madrid, Dublin and Oslo could be joined by other European countries. The recognition of a State of Palestine “is not a taboo for France” but Paris believes that the conditions are not met “to date for this decision to have a real impact” on the process aimed at a two-way solution. States, the head of French diplomacy reacted to AFP on Wednesday.
“This decision must be useful, that is to say allow a decisive step forward on the political level,” underlined Stéphane Séjourné in a written statement. “In this perspective, it must intervene at the right time so that there is a before and an after,” he added.
In March in Brussels, the Slovenian and Maltese leaders signed a joint communiqué with Madrid and Dublin in which the four countries expressed their desire to recognize such a state. The Slovenian government adopted a decree for the recognition of a Palestinian state on May 9, intending to send it to parliament for approval by June 13. In the early 1990s, after an Israeli-Arab Peace Conference at the end of October 1991 in Madrid, Norway secretly hosted the first Israeli-Palestinian peace talks which led to the Oslo Accords.
The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs immediately reacted by announcing the recall “for consultations” of its ambassadors in Ireland and Norway. Tuesday, in a video message to Dublin published on the social network X, he warned that “recognizing a Palestinian state risks transforming you into a pawn in the hands of Iran” and Hamas. This measure will “only fuel extremism and instability,” he added.
Hamas and the PLO welcome this recognition
The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, at war with Israel in the Gaza Strip, welcomed Wednesday the recognition of the State of Palestine by three countries as an “important step”, while the PLO spoke of “historic” moments. “We consider this an important step towards asserting our right to land and establishing a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital,” Hamas said in a statement, calling on “countries across the world to recognize (their) legitimate national rights”.
A senior official of the movement, in power in Gaza since 2007, judged for his part that these recognitions were the result of the “courageous resistance” of the Palestinians and “the historic perseverance of the Palestinian people”. “We believe that this is a turning point in the international position on the Palestinian question,” Bassem Naïm told AFP.
For its part, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) hailed “historic” moments. These are “historical moments in which the free world triumphs […] after long decades of Palestinian national struggle, suffering, pain, racism, murder, oppression, abuse and destruction to which the people of Palestine have been subjected,” said Hussein al-Sheikh, Secretary-General of the executive committee of the PLO, on the social network