Foreign Minister of Jordan, Ayman Safadi has hailed the coordinated move by Ireland, Norway and Spain to recognise Palestine as a state.
He hailed it as an “important and essential step towards Palestinian statehood.”
“We value this decision and consider it an important and essential step towards a two-state solution that embodies an independent, sovereign Palestinian state along the July 1967 borders,” he told a news conference.
Safadi added that the country decision by Norway, Spain and Ireland is a “key step towards peace.”
Saudi Arabia also praised the decision by Ireland, Norway and Spain to recognise a Palestinian state and called on other countries to do the same.
According to a statement posted on X, the Foreign Ministry expressed the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s “welcome of the positive decision taken by the Kingdom of Norway, the Kingdom of Spain and the Republic of Ireland to recognise the sisterly State of Palestine.”
The move by Norway, Ireland and Spain will have little practical impact on the everyday life of Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territories and Gaza, but it holds important political and symbolic weight.
Longtime Palestinian Politician, Mustafa Barghouti noted that the recognition of the Palestinian state by Ireland, Spain and Norway was a “powerful political and symbolically significant step” that moved the achievement of “freedom and justice” closer for the Palestinian people.
“Also, it blows away a lot of the de facto effects that Israel has created through settlement building on the ground – by confirming that Palestine today is a state under occupation.
“So, any efforts of the occupying power to change facts on the ground is meaningless and will not have an impact in the long run.”
Mustafa Barghouti
James Bays, a Diplomatic Editor opined that the move by Ireland, Norway and Spain to recognise the state of Palestine is significant for two reasons: “momentum and timing.”
Bays added that the timing of the announcements by Ireland, Norway and Spain is significant due to what is happening at the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
“Just look at the week that Prime Minister Netanyahu has had,” he said, referring to ICC prosecutor’s announcement that he was seeking an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and the ICJ hearings on South Africa’s request for a ruling to stop the Rafah offensive.
Meanwhile, Akiva Eldar, a political columnist at an Israeli publication Haaretz, stated that the recognition of the Palestinian state by Norway, Spain and Ireland goes against “Netanyahu and the majority of the Israeli Knesset’s philosophy never to agree to a Palestinian state, especially not unilaterally.”
Eldar added that he believes that Netanyahu will frame the recognition “as another demonstration of anti-Semitism, victimhood” and use it in his narrative “that the world is against us.”
Smotrich Threatens Halt To PA Tax Fund Transfer
Israeli Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich said that he will no longer transfer tax funds to the Palestinian Authority (PA) after Norway, Spain and Ireland said they will recognise a Palestinian state.
In a post on X, the far-right minister added that he would cancel the set-up in which Norway collects the PA’s tax funds.
“Norway was the first to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state today, and it cannot be a partner in anything related to Judea and Samaria,” he said.
Israel collects taxes on behalf of the Palestinians and makes monthly transfers to the PA under the Oslo Accords, but in November, it froze funds meant for Palestinians in Gaza.
In February, Palestinian and Israeli officials agreed that Norway would serve as an intermediary for holding revenues that Israel had withheld.
Smotrich also demanded “punitive measures” from Netanyahu, including establishing a settlement on the occupied West Bank “for every country that unilaterally recognizes a Palestinian state” and promoting the construction of tens of thousands of housing units in settlements, which are illegal under international law.
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