Ireland, Spain, Norway to announce recognition of Palestinian state

Ireland and Spain and Norway are expected to announce plans to formally recognize the Palestinian state, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter, amid Israeli authorities' strong opposition to the recognition.

The move was expected to be announced at 8 a.m. during a press conference on Wednesday, led by the leaders of Ireland’s three-party government, namely Prime Minister Simon Harris, Foreign Minister Micheál Martin and Environment Minister Eamon Ryan.

They had earlier signaled the government would make the move to recognize Palestinian statehood by the end of May.

National public broadcaster RTÉ and daily broadsheet newspaper the Irish Times both reported that the decision to do so would be announced at the news conference.

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez will also reveal a date for formal recognition on Wednesday, after announcing his intention last week to do so.

European Union members Ireland, Spain, Slovenia and Malta have indicated in recent weeks that they planned to make a recognition announcement.

Norway also said it will recognize Palestine as a state, calling on other countries to follow suit.

Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stør he expected several European countries to make announcements today.

“My impression is that there is reflection going on in some more countries, but I will not go into detail on that. I think they will make their position known when they are ready to do so,” he said.

Stør had said in April that Oslo stood ready to make an announcement. “The question is when and in what context.”

Read more:

• Six European countries to recognize Palestine: Irish, Spanish leaders

Meanwhile, the Israeli foreign ministry on Tuesday warned Ireland against recognizing the Palestinian state, alleging in a post on social media platform X that such a move would make Dublin a “pawn in the hands of Hamas” resistance movement.

It further claimed that the recognition “will lead to more terrorism” and “jeopardize any prospects for peace.”

The Spanish prime minister has been one of the most outspoken European leaders when it comes to criticism of the Israeli regime’s genocidal war on Gaza. He has also repeatedly asserted that the so-called two-state solution remains the only answer to the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

This comes amid Israel's brutal war on Gaza, which was launched on October 7 after Palestinian resistance groups carried out a surprise retaliatory operation into the occupied territories.

Concomitantly with the war, the regime has been enforcing a near-total siege on the coastal territory, which has reduced the flow of foodstuffs, medicine, electricity, and water into the Palestinian territory into a trickle.

So far during the military onslaught, the regime has killed at least 35,456 Gazans, most of them women, children, and adolescents. Another 79,476 Palestinians have sustained injuries as well.

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