Palestinian Official to Asharq Al-Awsat: European Recognitions a First Step towards Statehood

Warm applause from members of the Spanish government for Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez after he announced recognition of the State of Palestine (AFP)
Warm applause from members of the Spanish government for Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez after he announced recognition of the State of Palestine (AFP)
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Palestinian Official to Asharq Al-Awsat: European Recognitions a First Step towards Statehood

Warm applause from members of the Spanish government for Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez after he announced recognition of the State of Palestine (AFP)
Warm applause from members of the Spanish government for Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez after he announced recognition of the State of Palestine (AFP)

Leader in the Fatah movement, Mounir Al-Jaghoub, said that the strong Saudi pressure and Arab diplomacy in the past few months had a major role in influencing the three European countries, Spain, Norway, and Ireland, to recognize the Palestinian state.
Al-Jaghoub noted that several reasons led to this recognition, including the strong Saudi position regarding the establishment of the Palestinian state, Arab and Palestinian diplomacy, and the feeling of remorse in many countries that were unable to stop the Israeli crimes.
Norway, Spain, and Ireland announced the recognition of the State of Palestine, to come into effect on May 28, in a step that the Palestinians considered a strong support for the two-state solution.
The decisions came a few weeks after the meeting of the ministerial committee assigned by the joint extraordinary Arab-Islamic summit in Riyadh, which was chaired by Saudi Arabia, and attended by foreign ministers of several countries, including the three European states.
The meeting discussed the recognition of the Palestinian state and the necessity to adopt a comprehensive approach towards a reliable and irreversible path to implementing the two-state solution in accordance with international law and agreed upon standards.
“Saudi Arabia has great political power. It has a pivotal and pressing role, and enjoys a strong economy,” the Palestinian official underlined.
The Palestinians widely welcomed the tripartite recognition of their state, describing it as a “historic moment,” but Israel pledged that the consequences would affect the Palestinians and the relevant countries.
Tel Aviv recalled its ambassadors to Ireland, Spain and Norway “to conduct emergency consultations,” and later rebuked the ambassadors of these countries to Israel. Israeli sources said that the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs is considering taking further diplomatic steps against Norway, Ireland and Spain, “including canceling the official visit to Israel and entry visas for diplomats.”
President Mahmoud Abbas’ advisor for international relations, Riyad al-Maliki, said that the recognition of the State of Palestine by Spain, Norway, and Ireland is a pressure card on the Security Council countries to deal responsibly and seriously with the Palestinian request to become a “permanent member” of the United Nations.
Meanwhile, as Portugal was expected to join the rest of the European countries, Portuguese Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel said on Thursday that his country would maintain the position taken by the previous socialist government, which resigned last year, to be a mediator in the peace process while awaiting the right time to make this decision.
The Portuguese Foreign Ministry spokesman had stated that his country supports a two-state solution to the Middle East crisis, but does not consider the present time to be appropriate to issue this decision.

 

 

 



Netanyahu Denounces Tactical Pauses in Gaza Fighting to Get in Aid

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) attends the Knesset plenum vote on the ultra-Orthodox conscription to military service law, in the Knesset, Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, 10 June 2024. (EPA)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) attends the Knesset plenum vote on the ultra-Orthodox conscription to military service law, in the Knesset, Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, 10 June 2024. (EPA)
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Netanyahu Denounces Tactical Pauses in Gaza Fighting to Get in Aid

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) attends the Knesset plenum vote on the ultra-Orthodox conscription to military service law, in the Knesset, Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, 10 June 2024. (EPA)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) attends the Knesset plenum vote on the ultra-Orthodox conscription to military service law, in the Knesset, Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, 10 June 2024. (EPA)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized plans announced by the military on Sunday to hold daily tactical pauses in fighting along one of the main roads into Gaza to facilitate aid delivery into the Palestinian enclave.

The military had announced the daily pauses from 0500 GMT until 1600 GMT in the area from the Kerem Shalom Crossing to the Salah al-Din Road and then northwards.

"When the prime minister heard the reports of an 11-hour humanitarian pause in the morning, he turned to his military secretary and made it clear that this was unacceptable to him," an Israeli official said.

The military clarified that normal operations would continue in Rafah, the main focus of its operation in southern Gaza, where eight soldiers were killed on Saturday.

The reaction from Netanyahu underlined political tensions over the issue of aid coming into Gaza, where international organizations have warned of a growing humanitarian crisis.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who leads one of the nationalist religious parties in Netanyahu's ruling coalition, denounced the idea of a tactical pause, saying whoever decided it was a "fool" who should lose their job.

DIVISIONS BETWEEN COALITION, ARMY

The spat was the latest in a series of clashes between members of the coalition and the military over the conduct of the war, now in its ninth month.

It came a week after centrist former general Benny Gantz quit the government, accusing Netanyahu of having no effective strategy in Gaza.

The divisions were laid bare last week in a parliamentary vote on a law on conscripting ultra-Orthodox Jews into the military, with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant voting against it in defiance of party orders, saying it was insufficient for the needs of the military.

Religious parties in the coalition have strongly opposed conscription for the ultra-Orthodox, drawing widespread anger from many Israelis, which has deepened as the war has gone on.

Lieutenant-General Herzi Halevi, the head of the military, said on Sunday there was a "definite need" to recruit more soldiers from the fast-growing ultra-Orthodox community.

RESERVISTS UNDER STRAIN

Despite growing international pressure for a ceasefire, an agreement to halt the fighting still appears distant, more than eight months since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas fighters on Israel triggered a ground assault on the enclave by Israeli forces.

Since the attack, which killed some 1,200 Israelis and foreigners in Israeli communities, Israel's military campaign has killed more than 37,000 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health ministry figures, and destroyed much of Gaza.

Although opinion polls suggest most Israelis support the government's aim of destroying Hamas, there have been widespread protests attacking the government for not doing more to bring home around 120 hostages who are still in Gaza after being taken hostage on Oct. 7.

Meanwhile, Palestinian health officials said seven Palestinians were killed in two air strikes on two houses in Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza Strip.

As fighting in Gaza has continued, a lower level conflict across the Israel-Lebanon border is now threatening to spiral into a wider war as near-daily exchanges of fire between Israeli forces and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia have escalated.

In a further sign that fighting in Gaza could drag on, Netanyahu's government said on Sunday it was extending until Aug. 15 the period it would fund hotels and guest houses for residents evacuated from southern Israeli border towns.