Spain, Norway, Ireland Formally Recognise Palestinian State Amid Israeli Furor

Spain, Norway and Ireland on Tuesday moved to formally recognise a Palestinian state in a coordinated effort by the Western European nations. Israel’s war in Gaza since the October 7 attack has revived a global push for Palestinians to be given a state of their own.

This joint diplomatic move, initially announced last week, was rebuked by Israel but is unlikely to have any impact on its grinding war in Gaza. However, it adds to global pressure on Tel Aviv to soften its military response to last year’s Hamas-led terrorist attack.

Spanish government spokesperson Pilar Alegria said the cabinet had “adopted an important decision to recognise a Palestinian state”, which had “one objective: to help Israelis and Palestinians achieve peace”. Ireland urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “listen to the world and stop the humanitarian catastrophe we are seeing in Gaza”.

Hours before the final announcement was made, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz accused Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez of being complicit in calls to eliminate the Jewish people. “Khamenei, Sinwar, and deputy PM Yolanda Diaz call for the elimination of Israel and for the establishment of an Islamic Palestinian terror state from the river to the sea,” wrote Katz on X. Diaz ended a speech last week with the slogan “from the river to the sea Palestine will be free,” and has said since it was an endorsement of the two-state solution.

“Sanchez, when you don’t fire your deputy and declare recognition of a Palestinian state, you are a partner to incitement to the genocide of Jews and to war crimes,” Katz said. Relations between the EU and Israel have nosedived with the diplomatic recognitions by two EU members and Madrid. The latter insisted on Monday that the EU should take measures against Israel for its continued deadly attacks in southern Gaza’s city of Rafah.

After Monday’s meeting of EU foreign ministers, Irish Foreign Minister Micheál Martin said “for the first time at an EU meeting, in a real way, I have seen a significant discussion on sanctions” for Israel. Norway, which is not an EU member but often aligns its foreign policy with the bloc, handed diplomatic papers to the Palestinian government over the weekend ahead of its formal recognition.

The three countries recognised a Palestinian state with its borders to be demarcated as they were prior to 1967, with Jerusalem as the capital of both Israel and Palestine. However, they also recognised that those borders may change in any eventual talks to reach a final settlement. “This is a historic decision that has a single objective: that Israelis and Palestinians achieve peace,” Spanish Prime Minister Sanchez said in an earlier televised address.

(With agency inputs)