By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Norway, Ireland and Spain announced on Wednesday that they would recognise a Palestinian state on May 28, prompting an angry response from Israel which said this amounted to a “reward for terrorism” and recalled its ambassadors from the three capitals.
Officials in Dublin, Madrid and Oslo painted the decision as a move aimed at accelerating efforts to secure a ceasefire in Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza.
They urged other countries to follow suit although the United States, Israel’s main ally, stood by its position that a Palestinian state should be realised through direct negotiations and not “unilateral recognition”.
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.
Ireland’s prime minister Simon Harris made a similar announcement 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.”
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 impose a ceasefire,” Sanchez said.
The decision infuriated Israel, which says recognising a Palestinian state amounts to rewarding Hamas militants for the October 7 attack that triggered Israel’s offensive against the Palestinian militant group in Gaza.
“The intention of several European countries to recognise a Palestinian state is a reward for terrorism,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
“This would be a terrorist state. It would try to carry out the October 7 massacre again and again – and that, we shall not agree to,” he said.
“Rewarding terrorism will not bring peace and neither will it stop us from defeating Hamas.”
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.
Meanwhile president Cyril Ramaphosa has welcomed the decision by three countries to recognise Palestine as a state.
Ramaphosa says the move means that South Africa’s stance on the Israel-Hamas war is justified.
“This means that our call for Palestine to be recognized and for a peace process including a ceasefire is gathering support and we are pleased with that when we took the Israel state to the ICJ, many people thought we were mad some people said this is baseless, saying this is a ground less initiative but now more and more countries are becoming part of our case, Egypt is one of those and there are many others, and we are glad that we have really raised the issue of moral rectitude and justice and humanity in the world.