Following Spain, Ireland and Norway’s announcement that they would recognize Palestine as a state, Israel’s Foreign Minister Katz warned against rewarding terrorism. The Palestinian side responded with satisfaction.
After Spain, Ireland and Norway announced their recognition of Palestine as a state, Israel has recalled ambassadors. Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz criticized the decision on Platform X and wrote that it sends a message to the Palestinians and the world: terrorism pays.
Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Secretary General Hussein al-Sheikh thanked countries for the recognition and said it was the path to stability, security and peace in the region.
The topic is also being discussed in the Israeli media. A Channel 12 expert says quite bluntly that the recognition reflects three things: the political demise of the State of Israel under the leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the lack of a strategy in the Gaza war and the fact that others make decisions when you don’t do it yourself.
Many states have already recognized Palestine
In fact, of the 193 member states of the United Nations, 143 have already recognized Palestine as an independent state, including the veto powers Russia and China. Most Western European countries, the USA and Australia had not done this so far.
The Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas, which attacked Israel from the Gaza Strip on October 7, rejects the state of Israel and wants to destroy it. It is at odds with the second major Palestinian movement, Fatah under Mahmoud Abbas, which recognizes Israel and controls parts of the West Bank.
Fatah also leads the Palestinian Authority, which was supposed to be the beginning of a Palestinian state according to the Oslo Accords in the 1990s, but which never became a reality. The umbrella organization PLO, to which Fatah but not Hamas belongs, has observer status at the United Nations and was recently upgraded there.
Federal Government for Two-state solution
There is satisfaction on the Palestinian side about the step. Not just from Hamas, which has also commented. Ramzi Odeh, general secretary of a campaign against occupation and apartheid, said on Palestinian radio: “When important European states recognize the state of Palestine in these times, they are sending a message to the whole world that they are doing so despite Israel’s will.”
In the past, Europeans and Americans said they were in favor of a Palestinian state and the two-state solution – but only through negotiations, said Odeh. “Today these states are completely convinced that Israel never wants and has not wanted recognition of a Palestinian state.”
The federal government has also repeatedly advocated a two-state solution in many public statements. Berlin’s position so far has been to only recognize a Palestinian state if Israel also does so.
Netanyahu emphasized his opposition
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has recently repeatedly emphasized that he is proud of having prevented a Palestinian state for decades. In fact, Israel occupied the West Bank as early as 1967 and pushed ahead with the construction of settlements there in violation of international law. Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip were evacuated in 2005, but since then the coastal strip has been largely sealed off by Israel and Egypt.
Following the move by Norway, Ireland and Spain, the Israeli government is now making proposals for various punitive measures against the Palestinian Authority.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has, among other things, called for the approval of additional housing units in the West Bank, a further freezing of funds and a restriction of the freedom of travel of representatives of the Palestinian Authority. If these proposals are implemented, the situation in the occupied West Bank is likely to worsen further.
Jan-Christoph Kitzler, ARD Tel Aviv, tagesschau, May 22, 2024 1:19 p.m