Recognition of State of Palestine by Spain, Ireland, Norway

The recent recognition of the State of Palestine by Spain, Ireland, and Norway, with a view to ending the current war in Gaza, is a welcome development that the rest of the world should leverage to achieve peace in the Middle East.

Over a week ago, Spain, Ireland, and Norway formally recognised a Palestinian State. Two main reasons have engendered this latest development on the Palestinian question. One is to bring attention to the efforts to find a political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian enduring war in the Middle East.

Two, a concerted effort on the part of the three countries is expected to goad other European countries to recognise the State of Palestine, and perhaps help to bring about a diplomatic solution to the ongoing war in Gaza as well as the release of Israeli hostages.

Simon Harris, Irish Prime Minister, was forward-looking on the recognition. As he puts it, “It is an expression of our view that Palestine holds and should be able to vindicate the full rights of the State, including self-determination, self-governance, territorial integrity, and security, as well as recognising Palestine’s own obligations under international law.”

Amidst shuttle diplomacy between the United States and some Arab countries, including Qatar and Egypt, the Israeli war on Gaza looks to endure. The war code-named operation ‘Iron Sword’ is currently in its eighth month and has resulted in the death of over 35000 Palestinians thereby outraging men and women of conscience globally.

The punitive measure against Hamas that has taken on genocide against the Palestinians has sparked protests in major capitals and cities of the world, including Tel Aviv, and the United States. The latter, a major backer of Israel, has witnessed sit-ins by students of major higher institutions across major cities with corresponding repression by security forces, a fact that called into question the human rights credentials of the country, a major promoter of democracy and human rights.

Although in reaction to this development, Israel has recalled its ambassadors from Ireland, Norway, and Spain, and accused them of rewarding Hamas’s heinous act of October 7, 2023. Its symbolism is not lost on the rest of the world and it truly brought Israel into the court of public opinion. Even more significant is the fact that the three countries recognised a Palestinian State based on established borders before the war in 1967 that made Jerusalem the capital of both Israel and Palestine.

It would be recalled that some European countries, namely: Hungary, Poland, Romania, Czech, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Sweden, and Cyprus, have already recognised a Palestinian State since 1988 when they were part of the Eastern Bloc in the Cold War era. Also, Palestine enjoys observer status at the UN, without voting rights as well as full recognition by sundry organisations that include the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. Besides, on 10th of May, 143 out of 193 members of the United Nations General Assembly voted in favour of a Palestinian bid for full UN membership.

We recall that Israel’s crimes in Gaza are before two international courts, namely the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ), at the instance of South Africa that alleged that Israel should be held responsible for violations of the Genocide Convention in respect of its actions. Israel was called to act by its obligations under the Genocide Convention, which states, specifically with regard to the Palestinians in Gaza, that Israel must ‘take all measures within its power’ to prevent the commission of acts prohibited in the Convention, in particular killings, causing serious physical or mental harm, the deliberate infliction of conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction of the population in whole or in part, and the imposition of measures intended to prevent births…”

We applaud the actions of Spain, Norway, and Ireland. Despite its symbolism, it is somewhat an affirmation of the two-State solution already spelt out in Resolution 181 and the Oslo Accords 1993, which sets out the agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) that established a peace process for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through a mutually negotiated two-State solution.

It is time to end the cycle of blood-letting beginning with Deir Yassin, in 1949; Qibya, 1953; Kafr Qassem, 1956; Samua’a, 1966; Jit-fliq, 1968; Abu Za’abal, 1970; Azziyeh, 1977, the two intifadas intertwined by major wars up to the ongoing massacre in Gaza. It ought to be clear to policy-makers in Israel and Palestine that there is no solution in war but in peace.

Israel is carrying on in defiance of growing global opinion that it should halt the killings and humanitarian disaster in Gaza, and make peace with the Palestinian people. We urge parties in the current crisis to make way for peace, and Israel, obviously with the upper hand in this ongoing war on Gaza, must cease hostility against innocent people. On its part, Hamas must avoid further escalation of the crisis by reaching an amicable solution with Israel for the sake of their people, Middle East and the global peace threatened by the continuing hostility.