Proclaimed in November 1988 by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) during a solemn session of the Palestinian National Council in Algiers, the State of Palestine is recognized today by 142 countries of the 193 member states of the UN and continues to make new political gains with the announcement on Wednesday of three European countries of their coordinated decision to recognize the Palestinian state.
Norway was the first country to announce its decision to recognize the State of Palestine on May 28. “The government has decided to recognize the State of Palestine,” declared Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stre at a press conference in Oslo, specifying that the decision would be effective from May 28.
The Norwegian Prime Minister at the same time launched “a strong call” to other countries to do the same.
Norway was followed by Ireland, whose Prime Minister, Simon Harris, announced early in the morning his country’s decision to recognize the State of Palestine, hailing a “historic and important day for Ireland and for the Palestine.”
These two countries were followed by Spain which also announced its decision to recognize the Palestinian state.
“Next Tuesday, May 28, Spain will adopt in the Council of Ministers the recognition of the Palestinian State,” declared, in turn, the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, before the Spanish deputies.
Spain and Ireland, as well as Slovenia and Malta, signed a declaration on March 22 in Brussels in which they committed to recognizing Palestine as a state.
On May 9, the Slovenian government launched the process of recognition of the State of Palestine on which Parliament must vote on June 13.
Eight EU member states currently recognize the Palestinian state. These are Bulgaria, Cyprus, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden and the Czech Republic.
Four Caribbean countries: Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and the Bahamas recently joined the list of countries recognizing the State of Palestine.
Palestinians welcome recognition of their state
The Islamic resistance movement “Hamas” called the recognition of the State of Palestine by three European countries an “important step” towards the establishment of the Palestinian state, while the PLO hailed “historic” moments . “We consider this an important step towards asserting our right to land and establishing a Palestinian state with Al Quds as its capital,” the movement said in a statement, urging “countries across the world to recognize (their) legitimate national rights.”
“We believe that this is a turning point in the international position on the Palestinian question,” affirmed, for his part, Bassem Naïm, a senior official of the movement, believing that these recognitions were the result of the “courageous Palestinian resistance and the historic perseverance of the Palestinian people.
The PLO, for its part, welcomed “historic” moments after “long decades of struggle”. These are “historical moments in which the free world triumphs (…) after long decades of Palestinian national struggle, suffering, pain, racism, murder, oppression, abuse and destruction to which the people of Palestine have been subdued,” Hussein al-Sheikh, secretary general of the PLO executive committee, said on the X social network.
The United Nations General Assembly adopted on May 10, by an overwhelming majority, a resolution supporting Palestine’s request for full membership of the Organization (UN) during an emergency special session on the situation in Gaza, which has been plagued for more than seven months by genocidal aggression by the Zionist entity.
At that session, the General Assembly urged the Security Council to consider “favorably” Palestine’s request for full membership. By this text, it also decided, “exceptionally and without this constituting a precedent”, to adopt several modalities for the participation of the State of Palestine in its sessions and work from its seventy-ninth session.
The draft resolution presented on behalf of the group of Arab States received 143 votes for, 9 against and 25 abstentions. This resolution follows the veto by the United States in the Security Council on April 18, which blocked the admission of Palestine as a full member state of the UN. This draft resolution, presented by Algeria, received twelve votes in favor, with Switzerland and the United Kingdom abstaining.
Since then, Algeria has continued its tireless efforts for the admission of the State of Palestine as a full member of the United Nations. “We will come back stronger with the support of the General Assembly for the full membership of the Palestinian State in the UN,” promised the Permanent Representative of Algeria to the United Nations, Amar Bendjama, calling on “those who could not support the admission of the State of Palestine today to do so next time”, because, he said, “today was only a another step in the journey towards full Palestinian membership.”
“The overwhelming support for the admission of the State of Palestine sends a message that could not be clearer: the State of Palestine has a legitimate place among the members of the United Nations,” he insisted.
He recalled, on this occasion, the words of the President of the Republic, Mr. Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who assured that “Algeria’s efforts will not cease until the State of Palestine becomes a full member United Nations “.
This article is originally published on al24news.com
