Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez says statements on Palestine will be made “when conditions are appropriate.”
Ireland and Norway are both increasingly closer to recognizing Palestinian statehood, the leaders of the two countries said separately after meetings with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who also supports the measure.
Ireland wants to recognize Palestine soon, but in coordinated action with Spain and other European nations, the country’s Prime Minister Simon Harris said after meeting Sanchez in Dublin on Friday.
Earlier in the day, Sanchez traveled to Oslo, where Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said his country also “is ready” to recognize Palestine along with “like-minded countries.”
Sanchez said that Spain wants to recognize Palestine “as quickly as possible”, taking advantage of the measure as a way to gain momentum for a definitive peace process.
The current efforts come at a time when rising deaths, hunger and infrastructure damage in the besieged Gaza Strip due to Israel’s war have resulted in growing international criticism.
In Europe, concerns about Israel’s war in Gaza have also led to shifting positions – including more nations considering recognizing Palestine.
Last month, Spain and Ireland, long supporters of Palestinian rights, announced together with Malta and Slovenia that they would work together towards the recognition of a Palestinian state. They said they were “ready to recognize Palestine” in a move that would happen when “circumstances are right.”
On Friday, after meeting with Sanchez, Harris said, “Let me say tonight that our assessment is that that point is getting very close and we would like to move toward that together.”
“The people of Palestine have long sought their own country’s dignity and sovereignty – a home that, like Ireland and Spain, can take its place among the nations of the Earth.”
Sanchez said countries were willing to make their declarations “when the conditions are appropriate” and that they would support the new Palestinian state in becoming “a full member of the United Nations.”
The Spanish leader has repeatedly angered Israel with his outspoken comments since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza, while Harris has already received a reprimand from the Israeli government this week.
Israel told the four European Union countries that have pledged to move towards Palestinian recognition that their initiative would amount to a “bounty on terrorism” that would reduce the chances of a negotiated resolution to the generational conflict.
Norway ‘is ready’
“Norway is ready to recognize the state of Palestine,” Norwegian Prime Minister Store, whose country is part of the Schengen zone but not the EU, said at a joint news conference with Sanchez on Friday.
“We have not established a firm timetable,” he added, saying that a decision on recognizing Palestine would have to be made in close coordination with “like-minded countries.”
In November, Norway’s parliament adopted a government proposal for the country to be prepared to recognize an independent Palestinian state.
Norway also hosted Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in the early 1990s, which led to the Oslo Accords.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed more than 33,600 Palestinians and injured more than 76,000 people since October 7. A Hamas attack on southern Israel before the war killed about 1,100 people there.
In total, 139 of the 193 UN member states recognize Palestine as a state.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
