Spain, Norway and Ireland formally recognise a Palestinian state
- The three European countries believe their initiative has strong symbolic impact
- But the decision was slammed by outraged Israeli officials and commentators
Spain and Norway on Tuesday formally recognised a Palestinian state, with Ireland due to follow suit, in a decision slammed by Israel as a ‘reward’ for Hamas more than seven months into the devastating Gaza war.
The three European countries believe their initiative has strong symbolic impact, which is likely to encourage others to follow in their footsteps.
As Oslo’s formal recognition went into effect, Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide hailed the move as ‘a special day for Norway-Palestine relations’.
‘Norway has been one of the most fervent defenders of a Palestinian state for more than 30 years,’ he added.
‘Recognition of the State of Palestine is not only a matter of historic justice… Is it also an essential requirement if we are all to achieve peace,’ Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said before meeting his cabinet.
The move, he said, was ‘not against anyone, least of all Israel’.
But Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz expressed rage at the decision this morning, accusing Sanchez of being a ‘partner to incitement’ to Jewish ‘genocide’.
‘You are a partner to incitement to genocide of the Jewish people’, Katz wrote on X, while making a parallel between Spanish minister Yolanda Diaz on the one hand, and Iran‘s supreme leader Ali Khamenei and Hamas Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar on the other following her call for a free Palestine, ‘from the river to the sea’.
A gloating Hamas has hailed Ireland, Norway and Spain ‘s decision to recognise a Palestinian state as an ‘important step’ – as Israel lashed out, accusing the European countries of a ‘twisted’ move that ‘rewards terrorism’. Pictured: A map showing which countries recognise the State of Palestine, including the three new countries shown in red
Demonstrators hold signs and Palestinian flags, as people call for a ceasefire in Gaza during a rally to commemorate Nakba Day, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Madrid, Spain, May 11, 2024
Demonstrators hold a banner, as people call for a ceasefire in Gaza during a rally to commemorate Nakba Day, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Madrid, Spain, May 11, 2024. The banner reads: ‘Enough of genocide, no more colonialism. Free Palestine.’
Israel said it was recalling its envoys to Ireland and Norway for ‘urgent consultations’ and was expected to do the same with its ambassador to Spain. Pictured: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (file photo)
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas 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’
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez charged that his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu’s campaign of ‘pain and destruction’ in the Gaza Strip was now putting the two-state solution in ‘danger’ as he announced Spain would recognise the State of Palestine
Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris called the October 7 attack ‘barbaric’ but added that ‘a two-state solution is the only way out of the generational cycles of violence, retaliation and resentment’ as Ireland announced it would recognise the State of Palestine
Norway and Spain’s decision to recognise a Palestinian state follows their historic role in advancing Israel-Palestinian peace efforts.
In 1991, the two sides sat down together for the first time at the Madrid peace conference that paved the way for the 1993 Oslo Accords, which at the time were expected to serve as the foundations for a peace process that never materialised.
Hamas welcomed today’s decision and urged other countries to follow suit.
‘We consider this an important step towards affirming our right to our land,’ it said, calling ‘on countries around the world to recognise our legitimate national rights’.
But Spain’s Prime Minister said the decision to recognise a Palestinian state reflected his nation’s ‘outright rejection of Hamas, which is against the two-state solution’ and whose October 7 attacks led to the Gaza war.
‘It is the only way to move towards the solution that we all recognise as the only possible way to achieve a peaceful future – that of a Palestinian state living side-by-side with the state of Israel in peace and security.’
The plans were unveiled last week in a coordinated announcement by the prime ministers of the three countries and go into effect today.
Although Slovenia has also started the process of recognising a Palestinian state, the issue has provoked sharp disagreement within the 27-nation European Union, of which Spain and Ireland are also members.
For decades, formal recognition of a Palestinian state has been seen as the endgame of a negotiated peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
Washington and most Western European nations have said they are willing to one day recognise Palestinian statehood, but not before agreement on thorny issues like the status of Jerusalem and final borders.
The spiralling bloodshed in Gaza has revived calls for Palestinians to be given their own state, with a growing number of European countries expressing a desire to do so.
Within the EU, states like France believe it is not the right time to do so, while Germany only envisages recognition following negotiations between the two sides.
Tuesday’s move by Spain, Ireland and Norway will mean 145 of the United Nations’ 193 member states now recognise Palestinian statehood.
These include many Middle Eastern, African and Asian countries but not the United States, Canada, most of western Europe, Australia, Japan or South Korea.
In 2014, Sweden became the first EU member to recognise a Palestinian state.
It followed in the steps of six other European countries that took the step before joining the bloc – Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Romania.
Demonstrators hold a banner, as people call for a ceasefire in Gaza during a rally to commemorate Nakba Day, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Madrid, Spain, May 11, 2024
A ‘Free Palestine’ banner hangs near a tent camp at the University of Oslo, Norway, where demonstrators say that the UIO should not have a collaboration project with Israel, May 2, 2024
The decision from the three nations comes more than seven months into the devastating Gaza war and after Hamas’ deadly October 7 terror attack. Pictured: A Hamas gunman is seen in Israel of October 7. The attack left around 1,200 people dead in Israel
Fire rages following an Israeli strike on an area designated for displaced Palestinians, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, in this still picture taken from a video, May 26, 2024
Palestinians observe the destruction caused by the attacks of Israeli army on tents of displaced Palestinians living near the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) warehouses in Rafah, Gaza on May 27, 2024
Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli soldiers during a demonstration along the border fence in east of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on November 8, 2019
A shirtless young protester is seen in Gaza gripping a Palestinian flag with one hand and swinging a slingshot over his head with the other in 2019. Palestinians have long been fighting for their independence, leading to deadly clashes with Israeli police and armed forces
The decision by Madrid, Dublin and Oslo has provoked a furious response from Israel.
On Monday, Foreign Minister Katz began taking ‘preliminary punitive measures’ against Spain, ordering its Jerusalem consulate to stop offering consular services to Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
‘We will not put up with harming Israel’s sovereignty and security,’ Katz said, describing recognition of Palestinian statehood as ‘an award to Hamas’.
On October 7, Hamas fighters stormed into southern Israel, killing more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians.
Militants also took 252 hostages, 121 of whom remain in Gaza. The Israeli army says 37 of them are dead.
Israel’s relentless retaliatory offensive has killed more than 36,000 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
On Sunday, Katz posted a video on X splicing footage of the October 7 attacks with flamenco dancing, saying: ‘Sanchez: Hamas thanks you for your service’ in a move denounced by Spain as ‘scandalous and revolting’.
A day earlier, Spanish Defence Minister Margarita Robles accused Israel of committing ‘a real genocide’ in Gaza.
Until now, such language had only been heard from far-left ministers of Sanchez’s coalition but not from a member of his Socialist party.
‘Some have framed our decision to recognise the state of Palestine as… a reward for terror. Nothing could be further from the truth,’ Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin said on Monday.
With the move, Dublin, Madrid and Oslo want ‘to see a future of normalised relations between the two peoples’ and to implement a two-state solution, he said.
