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Spain, Norway, Ireland Officially Recognize Palestinian State as Denmark’s Parliament Rejects Proposal

Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares (center), Norway’s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide (right), and Ireland’s Foreign Minister Micheal Martin (left) gesture after a press conference in Brussels, Belgium, May 27, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Johanna Geron

Spain, Norway, and Ireland officially recognized a Palestinian state on Tuesday, prompting outrage in Israel, whose foreign minister described the move as “incitement to genocide” against the Jewish people.

The coordinated announcement by Madrid, Oslo, and Dublin came on the same day that Denmark’s parliament rejected such a proposal, joining several European countries that have said the conditions have not been met yet to recognize a Palestinian state.

However, officials in Spain, Norway, and Ireland argued such a move would help foster a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and lead to lasting peace in the region, explaining that the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza accelerated their plans.

“It’s the only way of advancing toward what everyone recognizes as the only possible solution to achieve a peaceful future, one of a Palestinian state that lives side by side with the Israeli state in peace and security,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in a televised address.

Sanchez explained that Spain is recognizing a unified Palestinian state, including the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, under the Palestinian Authority (PA) with East Jerusalem as its capital, based on borders that were in place before the Six-Day War in 1967.

The PA currently exercises limited self-rule in the West Bank, while its rival, the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, rules Gaza.

Norway described Tuesday’s announcement as a “milestone” in its relationship with the Palestinians.

“For more than 30 years, Norway has been one of the strongest advocates for a Palestinian state,” Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said in a statement. “Today, when Norway officially recognizes Palestine as a state, is a milestone in the relationship between Norway and Palestine.”

Meanwhile, Dublin said it plans to upgrade its representative office in the West Bank to a full embassy and the Palestinian mission in Ireland will also be offered full embassy status.

“The government recognizes Palestine as a sovereign and independent state and agreed to establish full diplomatic relations between Dublin and Ramallah,” Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris said in a statement on Tuesday. “We had wanted to recognize Palestine at the end of a peace process. However, we have made this move alongside Spain and Norway to keep the miracle of peace alive.”

He added, “This decision of Ireland is about keeping hope alive. It is about believing that a two-state solution is the only way for Israel and Palestine to live side by side in peace and security.”

Harris also called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “to listen to the world and stop the humanitarian catastrophe we are seeing in Gaza.”

Spain and Ireland have been among the most vocal critics of Israel since Oct. 7, when Hamas invaded the Jewish state from neighboring Gaza and launched the current war. The Palestinian terrorists murdered 1,200 people and abducted over 250 others as hostages in their rampage, the deadliest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. Israel responded with an ongoing military campaign in Gaza aimed at freeing the hostages and destroying Hamas.

It remains unclear how exactly Spain, Norway, and Ireland envision Gaza being incorporated into a Palestinian state if Israel does not pursue its goal of fully removing Hamas from power and eliminating its terrorist infrastructure due to international pressure to halt its campaign.

Recent polling has found that the Palestinian people in both Gaza and the West Bank generally support the Oct. 7 massacre, want Hamas to remain in power in Gaza, and would back Hamas over the PA’s ruling Fatah party in elections.

On Tuesday, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz lashed out at Spain on X/Twitter, saying Sanchez’s government was being “complicit in incitement to genocide against the Jewish people and in war crimes.”

He noted that Spain’s Minister of Labor and Second Vice-President Yolanda Diaz ended a speech last week with the phrase “from the river to the sea Palestine will be free” — a popular slogan among anti-Israel activists that has been widely interpreted as a call for the destruction of the Jewish state, which is located between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.

Israel had repeatedly warned European countries that unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip would effectively amount to a “reward for terrorism” that would hurt the chances of a negotiated resolution to the conflict.

Last week, Israel recalled its ambassadors from Spain, Norway, and Ireland for immediate consultations and reprimanded the three countries’ ambassadors residing in Israel over their governments’ announced plan to recognize a Palestinian state.

The three European envoys were summoned to meet with Israeli Foreign Ministry Director-General Yaakov Blitshtein in Jerusalem. During the meeting, the ambassadors were shown a newly released video of the moments when five female Israeli soldiers were kidnapped by Hamas terrorists in southern Israel on Oct. 7.

In the video, Hamas terrorists force the young women, some of whom are teenagers, against a wall and threaten to kill them.

Of the 27 members of the European Union, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Sweden have already recognized a Palestinian state. Slovenia is expected to join them on Thursday, and Malta has said it could follow.

Britain and Australia have also said they are considering recognition of a Palestinian state. However, other countries have said the time is not right to do so.

On Tuesday, the Danish parliament rejected a proposal to recognize a Palestinian state, backing the government’s position that the necessary conditions were not in place.

Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen had previously said the Danish government could not recognize a Palestinian state because it did not have a single functioning authority or control over its own territory.

“We cannot recognize an independent Palestinian state, for the sole reason that the preconditions are not really there,” he said during a parliamentary debate in April.

Denmark is not alone. Last week, French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné said the conditions to officially recognize a Palestinian state have not yet been met.

“Our position is clear: the recognition of Palestine is not taboo for France,” Séjourné said in a statement.

“This is not just a symbolic issue or a question of political positioning, but a diplomatic tool in the service of the solution of two states living side by side in peace and security,” he continued. “France does not consider that the conditions have yet been met for this decision to have a real impact on this process.”

Germany similarly expressed support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but added that a “process of dialogue” was needed to reach that point.

“An independent Palestinian state remains a firm goal of German foreign policy,” a foreign ministry spokesperson said at a news conference in Berlin. “It’s clear to us that this requires a process of dialogue.”

Some European lawmakers echoed that point. Michael Roth, head of the German parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, lambasted the moves to grant recognition.

“I fear this will not bring us any closer to the necessary two-state solution,” Roth told the German RND media outlet last week, adding that it also gives “the false impression that it was only the horrific terror by Hamas on Oct. 7 that led to a new positive dynamic in favor of the Palestinians.”

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on Wednesday that the US supports a two-state solution but believes it should be brought about through direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

“President Biden … has been equally emphatic on the record that that two-state solution should be brought about through direct negotiations through the parties, not for unilateral recognition,” Sullivan said.

The post Spain, Norway, Ireland Officially Recognize Palestinian State as Denmark’s Parliament Rejects Proposal first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War

Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa

Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.

Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.

“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”

GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’

Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.

“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.

“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.

“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.

After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”

RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL

Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”

Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.

“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.

She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”

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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests

A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco

Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.

People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.

“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”

Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.

On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.

Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.

On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.

“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.

Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.

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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan

Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.

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