Norway, Ireland and Spain announced on Wednesday that they will recognise a Palestinian state, prompting Israel to immediately recall its envoys.
Ireland’s leader said his nation would recognise Palestine as a state but did not specify the timing, while leaders of Norway and Spain said their nations would do so as of May 28.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store announced in Oslo, Spain Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in Madrid and Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris in Dublin.
In his announcement on Wednesday, Store said; “There cannot be peace in the Middle East if there is no recognition. 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.
“Recognition of Palestine is a means of supporting the moderate forces which have been losing ground in this protracted and brutal conflict,” he said.
“This could ultimately make it possible to resume the process towards achieving a two-state solution and give it renewed momentum,” he added.
In a knock on effect, Israel promptly announced the recall of its envoys to Ireland and Norway for “urgent consultations”.
“Today, I am sending a sharp message to Ireland and Norway: Israel will not go over this in silence,” Foreign Minister Israel Katz declared in a statement, noting his intention to also recall the Spanish ambassador.
Earlier, the Israeli foreign ministry posted a video on X directed at Ireland, warning that “recognising a Palestinian state risks turning you into a pawn in the hands of Iran and Hamas” and that such a move would “only fuel extremism and instability”.
Israel asserted that plans for Palestinian recognition amount to a “prize for terrorism” and would diminish the chances of a negotiated resolution to the war in Gaza, which started on October 7 when Palestinian fighters infiltrated southern Israel.
Hussein al-Sheikh, the secretary-general of the executive committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), wrote on X:
“Historical moments in which the free world triumphs for truth and justice after long decades of Palestinian national struggle, suffering, pain, occupation, racism, murder, oppression, abuse and destruction to which the people of Palestine were subjected.”
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