Spain formally recognises Palestinian state: Government spokesperson
Spain has formally recognised the State of Palestine in a decision approved by its cabinet, a government spokesperson says.
Pilar Alegria said the cabinet had “adopted an important decision to recognise a Palestinian state”, which had “one objective: to help Israelis and Palestinians achieve peace”.
Spanish PM stresses importance of supporting a viable Palestinian state
Spain’s formal recognition of Palestine is enormously symbolic, enormously momentous. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said this is not a decision that is against anybody, it isn’t against Israel – it’s in favour of peace.
The substance of the proposals that Spain, Ireland and Norway are putting forward is a return to 1967 borders, with Jerusalem as the capital of both Israel and the Palestinians. He also says that what they’re doing here is not outlandish; what they’re doing is in line with multiple UN resolutions, which have been formally recognised and adopted by the European Union as well.
Spain, Ireland and Norway are in no way outliers for European opinion; they are part of the majority of UN members – out of 193 of them, more than 140 of them now recognise Palestinian statehood as a reality.
Sanchez spoke about how important it is to support a viable Palestinian state. We earlier played a clip of a corridor running between Gaza and the West Bank to make the Palestinian state viable. We know how occupation in the West Bank has chopped up that occupied territory into little pockets that really isn’t viable as a statehood.
Spain and its allies are very clear that it needs to be returned to a kind of viable reality, so that Palestinian statehood can be made viable.
Norway formally recognises Palestinian state, Ireland next : Report
AFP is reporting that Norway’s government has also formally recognised a Palestinian state, with Ireland due to follow suit later.
“Norway has been one of the most fervent defenders of a Palestinian state for more than 30 years,” said the Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide as the move went into effect.
As we’ve reported, Spain has already formally recognised Palestinian statehood today, and Ireland is expected to do the same soon, joining 144 other countries worldwide that have already done so.
Norway’s recognition of Palestinian state ‘significant and long-overdue’
Marian Hussein, Norwegian member of parliament for Socialist Left Party, has said like-minded members of parliament have been working together with civil society and unions to get to this point.
Speaking to Al Jazeera in Oslo, Hussein said it’s a “game-changer for Norway even though it’s long overdue”. “Now is the time [for Norway] to look at sanctions because the pictures we are seeing from Rafah are horrific, and the bombardment has to stop”, she said.
“The government and the international community is not doing enough – we have seen eight months of bombardment … and the Palestinian people have been suffering for so long, so it’s time to recognise Palestine but also we need to move forward and sanction and stop the bombardments.”
Ireland officially recognises Palestinian state
Ireland has officially recognised a Palestinian state, the government has said in a statement, defying Israel which had condemned the plan. The government approved the recognition in a cabinet meeting on Tuesday morning, the statement said.
“The Government recognises Palestine as a sovereign and independent state and agreed to establish full diplomatic relations between Dublin and Ramallah,” it said. “An Ambassador of Ireland to the State of Palestine will be appointed along with a full Embassy of Ireland in Ramallah.”
Irish PM says recognition of Palestine about ‘keeping hope alive’
Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris says officially recognising a Palestinian state is about keeping hope for peace alive.
“This decision of Ireland is about keeping hope alive. It is about believing that a two-state solution is the only way for Israel and Palestine to live side by side in peace and security,” he said in a statement.
“We had wanted to recognise Palestine at the end of a peace process however we have made this move alongside Spain and Norway to keep the miracle of peace alive.
“I again call on Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel to listen to the world and stop the humanitarian catastrophe we are seeing in Gaza.”
Recognising Palestine ‘the beginning’ of a process
It’s one of the symbolic indications of Irish support for the Palestinian cause and Palestinian statehood, which is now being legally put into effect by the cabinet here over the last hour or so.
We’ve had a statement from the country’s deputy prime minister, also the foreign minister, Micheal Martin. He says that recognition of “Palestine is not the end of a process, it’s the beginning.”
He said that Ireland is “deeply committed to the pursuit of peace and support for Palestinian state-building”. This is something that Ireland, of course, has supported for many decades.
Danish Parliament rejects proposal to recognise Palestinian state
Denmark’s Parliament has voted down a bill to recognise a Palestinian state after its foreign minister said the necessary conditions for an independent country are lacking. The Danish bill was first proposed in late February by four left-wing parties.
“We cannot recognise an independent Palestinian state for the sole reason that the preconditions are not really there,” Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said when the bill was first debated in parliament in April. “We cannot support this resolution, but we wish that there will come a day where we can,” added Rasmussen, who was not present at the vote on Tuesday.
The vote followed Ireland’s, Spain’s and Norway’s formal recognition of a Palestinian state.
Denmark is still happily supplying arms to Israel
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ngos-sue-denmark-end-arms-export-israel-2024-03-12/
