Norway will recognize Palestine as an independent State on May 28, in a geopolitical movement with a strong symbolic meaning agreed with Spain and Ireland. “There can be no peace in the Middle East without Israel and Palestine having their own State; It is the only real solution to the conflict,” said Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre at a press conference in Oslo on Wednesday.
Støre argued that the recognition of a Palestinian state constitutes a sign of “support for the moderate forces that are on the decline in a horrible and protracted conflict; recognition can no longer wait for a peace solution to be reached,” she stated.
Støre argued that Palestine has “a fundamental right” to have its own state and that both Israelis and Palestinians have the right “to live in peace in their respective states.” According to the Norwegian leader, the dividing line between both States must be based on the borders prior to June 1967. “In the middle of a war, with tens of thousands of dead and wounded, we must keep alive the only thing that can provide a safe home for both for Israelis and Palestinians: two states that can live in peace with each other,” said Labor member Jonas Gahr Støre.
Already on November 16, 2023, the Norwegian Parliament, the Storting, had approved a resolution urging the Government – ??a coalition led by Labor, with centrists as a junior partner, which has governed in a minority since October 2021 – to recognize Palestine as a independent state. Norway has long said that it would recognize Palestine as a country only if this could have a positive impact on the peace process, and it is clear from Jonas Gahr Støre’s words that it now sees that decisive moment arriving.
The path that has led the kingdom of Norway to take this step has to do not only with the brutal evolution of the war in the Middle East since the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on October 7 and the forceful Israeli military response, which has caused thousands of Palestinian deaths, most of them civilians, but with the very nature of its particular foreign policy.
Norway, a European country that is not a member of the EU – this was decided by its citizens in a referendum in 1994 – is deeply Atlanticist – it was one of the twelve founding countries of NATO in 1949 – and is a close ally of the United States. Before the announcement, Oslo communicated its decision to Washington. He also previously informed Israel and already this Wednesday in public, Støre made “a strong call” to other countries to recognize Palestine as a State.
Norway has attempts to help negotiate a peace between Israelis and Palestinians decades ago, through the so-called Oslo agreements, which are however considered unsuccessful. They were signed between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and were two agreements: one signed in Washington in 1993 and another in Taba (Egypt) in 1995. Norway promoted secret talks between both parties in search of a peace process. peace, and the agreements led to the creation of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) to exercise limited Palestinian self-government in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Also the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prizes – which are decided and awarded in Oslo, while the other Nobel Prizes are celebrated in neighboring Sweden – has cemented in Norway a tradition of commitment to peace and human rights. In fact, in 1994, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israelis Isaac Rabin (Prime Minister) and Shimon Peres (Foreign Minister) received the Nobel Peace Prize “for their efforts to achieve peace in the Middle East.”
However, the Oslo agreements failed due to opposing sectors on both sides, some through violence – Isaac Rabin was assassinated for this in November 1995 -, which led to the rise of Hamas and the increase in Israeli colonization in Gaza. and West Bank.
Until now, only one country in Europe, Sweden, where the Palestinian cause has always had great standing, had recognized the Palestinian State. It did so on October 30, 2014, making Sweden the first EU country to do so. Norway will be the second Nordic country to join this recognition. According to the Palestinian Authority’s count, 142 countries of the 193 UN members have so far expressed their recognition of a Palestinian state.
“Evolution in the Middle East has not only gone in the wrong direction; It is simply catastrophic. Trust between the parties is at its lowest point; We must stop this negative spiral,” said the Norwegian Foreign Minister, Espen Barth Eide, this Wednesday at the same press conference as the prime minister. Jonas Gahr Støre reiterated his condemnation of Hamas’ actions.
“We are a friend of Israel and we will continue to be so; We were among the first to recognize it in 1948,” said Barth Eide, who highlighted that Oslo will maintain its diplomatic relations with Israel, although he admitted his differences with the current Tel Aviv Government headed by Beniamin Netanyahu.
