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.
