By P.K.Balachandran
Colombo, May 25:
Recent events make one wonder if the US will be able to maintain its dogged support for Israel’s hard line on Palestine and Gaza.
A number of smaller but important European countries have openly said that they would recognize the Palestinian State. Though there is no guarantee that the bigger countries in the continent will follow suit, there could be increased moral pressure on the US to be more reasonable on the Israel-Palestine issue.
It was the unreasonable belligerence of the hard line rulers in Israel headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, which forced Norway, Ireland and Spain to turn markedly pro-Palestine. They have said that they would officially recognize the Palestinian State on May 28.
“There cannot be peace in the Middle East if there is no recognition,” Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr said. “By recognizing a Palestinian state, Norway supports the Arab peace plan. Palestine as an independent state with all the rights and obligations that entails,” Gahr added.
Simon Harris, the Irish premier said recognition will help move the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to resolution through a two-state solution.
Addressing the Spanish parliament, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said: “We are going to recognize Palestine for many reasons and we can sum that up in three words – peace, justice and consistency. We have to make sure that the two-state solution is respected and there must be mutual guarantees of security.”
Sharply criticising Netanyahu, Sanchez said: “Prime Minister Netanyahu is still turning a blind eye and bombing hospitals, schools, homes. He is still using hunger, cold and terror to punish more than a million innocent boys and girls – and things have gone so far that prosecutors at the international criminal court have this week sought his arrest for war crimes.”
Spain’s action followed its denial of port facilities to a Danish-flagged ship with explosive material from India meant for Israel, which it said was a firm policy now.
Eight EU members had already recognised Palestinian Statehood.
At the UN
Since 1988, 139 of 193 United Nations member states have recognized Palestinian Statehood. In April, the UN General Assembly, 143 countries, including India, passed a resolution calling for the recognition of the Palestinian State.
At the UN Security Council, however, the US vetoed such a move. Britain and Switzerland abstained.
ICC’s Arrest Warrant Move
The International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan moved applications for arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for operations after October 7 in Gaza, as well as the Hamas leadership, for the terror attack that killed 1,200 in Israel, terming these as “war crimes”.
Prosecutor Khan told CNN that Netanyahu and Gallant would be charged with “starvation of civilians as a method of warfare as a war crime” and “extermination and/or murder… including in the context of deaths caused by starvation, as a crime against humanity” in the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.
World-Wide Support
France’s foreign minister said Wednesday that officially recognizing the Palestinian state is not a taboo, but any such decision must come at the right time.
“This is not just a symbolic issue or a question of political positioning, but a diplomatic tool in the service of the solution of two states living side by side in peace and security,” Stephane Sejourne said in a statement.
Germany echoed such a sentiment, saying: “An independent Palestinian state remains a firm goal of German foreign policy,” a German foreign ministry spokesperson said. But a dialogue process was needed to reach that goal, the spokesperson added.
Britain, which is closest to the US, is more cautious. In February, David Cameron, Britain’s Foreign Secretary, said that recognition of Palestine “can’t come at the start of the process.”
The Slovenian government was the first of the group of countries that signed a special declaration to start the process of recognizing Palestine. ICC’s Arrest Warrant Move
Islamic World Supports
A senior member of Hamas’s political bureau Bassem Naim told AFP that successive recognitions by three European countries will be a “turning point in the international position on the Palestinian issue.”
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) described the recognitions as an “important historic step is in line with international law and relevant United Nations legitimacy resolutions.”
Jordan hailed them as an “important and essential step towards Palestinian statehood.”
The six-member Gulf Cooperation Council also spoke out in support of the European countries’ move, with Secretary General Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi saying it represented “a pivotal and strategic step towards achieving the two-state solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a statement said.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry also said the move would help “Palestine gain the status it deserves in the international community.” Turkey would continue with efforts to press more states to recognize Palestine, the ministry said.
ICC Arrest Warrant
The International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan moved applications for arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for operations after October 7 in Gaza as well as the Hamas leadership for the terror attack that killed 1,200 in Israel, terming these as “war crimes”.
Prosecutor Khan told CNN that Netanyahu and Gallant would be charged with “starvation of civilians as a method of warfare as a war crime” and “extermination and/or murder… including in the context of deaths caused by starvation, as a crime against humanity” in the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.
Speaking about the ICC warrant, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell had said “all States that have ratified the ICC statutes are bound to execute” the rulings of the court “as an independent international institution.”
International Court of Justice
In January, the International Court of Justice had declared that South Africa had the right to bring its case against Israel because the Palestinians had “plausible rights to protection from genocide” “rights which were at a real risk of irreparable damage.”
US Rejects Recognition
Reacting to the announcement by the three European countries, the US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that any Palestinian State must be formed only a result of “direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
“What the United States can do through hard, gumshoe diplomacy, led by the President, the Secretary of State, myself, others is trying to put the pieces in place for a vision of an integrated region, of a secure Israel, of a two-state solution.”
“Israel is a sovereign nation, it will ultimately have to decide what it does. What we can do as a friend is trying to put the pieces in place to drive down that road,” Sullivan said.
US to Sanction ICC
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said he will work with Congress on sanctions against the International Criminal Court for issuing warrants for senior Israeli officials.
Blinken told a congressional hearing he was “committed” to taking action against the “profoundly wrong-headed decision”. His comments come amid a Republican push to impose sanctions on ICC officials.
The US is not a member of the court but has backed previous prosecutions, including the ICC’s arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine.
Israel Out Rightly Rejects Negotiations
However, direct negotiations between Israel and Palestine are not possible because Israel insists that Hamas must be defeated or even annihilated before even a temporary ceasefire to enable talks on the hostages issue.
And on top of it all, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is resolutely opposed the very idea of a Palestinian State.
On Wednesday Netanyahu described the decision of Ireland, Norway and Spain’s as a “reward for terrorism and will not bring peace.” He declared that a Palestinian state would be a “terrorist state,” affirming that his government “will not consent to this” and “will not stop it from defeating Hamas.”
Israel’s Plans Financial Sanctions
Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s Finance Minister threatened to take “harsh punitive measures” against the Palestinian Authority (PA) in retaliation for the recognition of a Palestine state. That includes cutting the authority’s tax revenues.
The tax revenues — known in Palestine and Israel as “maqasa” — are collected by the Israeli government on behalf of the PA on Palestinian imports and exports, and Israel in return earns a 3% commission. The revenues are estimated at around US$ 188 million every month and represent the main source of income for the Palestinian Authority.
Leaked Israeli documents also show that Israel has been seeking to forcibly transfer Gaza’s population to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula after the Gaza war erupted.
END
