Spain, Norway and Ireland moved to formally recognize the Palestinian state on Tuesday, a joint effort that symbolizes growing diplomatic pressure from Europe on Israel as the war in Gaza continues.
Spanish President Pedro Sanchez called the move “a historic decision with the sole objective of helping achieve peace between Israel and Palestine.”
The admission, which will have no effect on the conflict itself, was immediately condemned by the Israeli government. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz By comparison The Spanish vice president called Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and said the Spanish government was “complicit in inciting genocide and war crimes against the Jewish people.”
“It sends a signal to the world that as a country we can take practical action to keep the hope and goal of a two-state solution alive at a time when others are sadly trying to bomb it away,” Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris said.
Nine European Union member states and Norway now officially recognize Palestine as a sovereign state, although Sweden was previously the only major European power to do so. About 140 of the roughly 190 member states of the United Nations already recognize the state of Palestine.
Fellow EU members Malta and Slovenia have said they may follow suit, although not immediately.
The Biden administration has repeatedly supported a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine, including an independent Palestinian state, which the United States has not formally recognised and which no major Western powers recognize.
Tuesday’s move marks a sharp deterioration in Israeli-European relations amid growing criticism of Israel’s military operation in Rafah, a southern Gaza city where more than one million Palestinian civilians are believed to be displaced.
Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin said on Monday that EU leaders had for the first time held “significant discussions on sanctions” against Israel during an informal meeting.
The diplomatic spat comes after the International Criminal Court (ICC) last week recommended that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli and Hamas leaders be arrested on war crimes charges.
The United States has strongly condemned the proposed prosecution, and Congress is due to vote on a bill to impose sanctions on the international judicial body.
Israel is also facing increasing diplomatic pressure from the United Nations, whose General Assembly passed a resolution calling for a ceasefire in the war and earlier this month passed a resolution granting new “rights and privileges” to the Palestinians, signaling growing international support for the country’s full voting membership in the UN.
The UN-backed International Court of Justice (ICJ) last week ordered Israel to halt its operations in Rafah.
The Israeli government is generally opposed to the establishment of a Palestinian state, and negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority have been suspended during the conflict, so any new recognition is likely to bring about little change on the ground.
The Palestinian Authority controls the West Bank but was expelled from Gaza when Hamas took over the area in 2006. The United States has reportedly asked Israel to allow its troops into Gaza as it withdraws from the area, a move Netanyahu has strongly criticised.
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