Norway, Spain and Ireland announce to recognize Palestinian state

Norway, Spain and Ireland on Wednesday announced to recognize Palestinian state. The three countries will recognize a Palestinian state on May 28. The announcement prompted Israel to recall its ambassadors.

Spain and its allies have spent months lobbying other European nations Spain’s PM Sanchez said the step is to accelerate peace efforts

The Palestinian Authority and Hamas welcomed recognition.

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said recognition of a Palestinian state was “giving a prize to murderers.”

Speaking on the hilltop plateau known to Muslims as Al-Aqsa mosque compound and to Jews as Temple Mount, Ben-Gvir also said that Israel must go ‘all the way’ with its operation in Rafah in southern Gaza.

Here is a translation of his comments:

“The states that today recognized a Palestinian state are giving a prize to the Nukhba Force (Hamas), to the murderers and the abusers and to them I say we won’t allow even a declaration of a Palestinian state. Not even a declaration of the establishment of such a state, God forbid.

“I say another thing: In order to annihilate Hamas we need to go into Rafah all the way, to uproot. We, in order to bring back our hostages, need to stop the fuel. We need humanitarian aid only in exchange for humanitarian aid. And to control this place, the most important place.”

Ireland’s foreign minister said recognition of a Palestinian state was based on the 1967 borders.

These are the borders that existed between 1948 and 1967 between Israel, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.

The 1967 borders, commonly known as the ‘Green Line’, have long been the basis on which diplomats and negotiators have based their vision of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin told RTE radio: “When we recognise a state, we don’t recognise the government of the day, we recognise the state in terms of a permanent population of people in terms of defined borders, and in this case it’s the 1967 borders.”