Palestinians Hope Other States Will Follow
The Swedish government declared that it recognizes an independent Palestinian state, making it the first major European country to officially recognize the state of Palestine.
“It’s an important step that confirms the right of Palestinians to self-determination,” the country’s foreign minister, Margot Wallström, wrote Thursday in a Swedish newspaper. “Sweden’s traditionally close ties with the State of Israel are now complemented by an equal relationship to the other party.”
Israeli officials were not pleased, to say the least. Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman called the recognition “unfortunate” and said in a statement that it would only serve to strengthen the Palestinians’ “unrealistic demands.”
“The Swedish government needs to understand that the Middle East is more complicated than self-assembly furniture from Ikea and to act on the issue responsibly and with sensitivity,” he said, getting in a dig at the Sweden-based retail giant which has several mega-stores in Israel.
In response, the European Union said that its objective is and always has been a two-state solution with “an independent, democratic, viable Palestinian state living side-by-side with Israel and its other neighbors.”
The EU says in order to achieve this, direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians should resume as soon as possible. US-sponsored talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority broke down earlier this year, and were further strained by heavy fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza over the summer. Currently, tensions are running high in Jerusalem with daily clashes between Israeli police and stone-throwing Palestinian youths.
The latest clash came after Israel closed a site that is holy to both Jews and Muslims, a move Palestinian Authority President called “a declaration of war.” The Israeli move came after a Palestinian tried to kill an Israeli activist who advocates Jewish prayer at the site. The activist was seriously wounded and police shot and killed the suspected attacker during a firefight.
“The EU has always said it would recognize a Palestinian state when appropriate. The recognition itself is in the hands of member states,” Shadi Othman, Communication and Information Officer at the Office of the European Union Representative told The Media Line.
Palestinian official Sabri Saidam called the move by Sweden a “European bridge towards all-out recognition,” although it was not clear if other European states like Denmark and Norway would follow.
Political analyst Ghassan Khatib says that the Swedish move reflects growing frustration with Israel in Europe.
There are also tensions between Israel and the US, as evidenced by an interview with Bloomberg this week in which an unnamed Obama official is quoted as calling Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu “chickenshit.”
“It’s a message to Israel that the Europeans are fed up with the Israeli delay in the peace process and the Israeli practices, which are jeopardizing the possibility of establishing an independent Palestinian state and the two state solution,” Khatib told The Media Line. Khatib also expects other European countries to be encouraged by Sweden to do recognize Palestine.
Mustafa Barghouti, the president of the Palestinian National Initiative or Al Mubadara party, said the Swedish move is a “big defeat for Israel because it nullifies Israeli officials creating facts on the ground such as settlement building.”
He said he doesn’t expect the United States to stand with Israel as it usually has in the past. “The US is severely humiliated by Israel’s behavior,” Barghouti said.
Saidam agreed, telling The Media Line that Sweden gave “a vote of confidence in Palestine and a vote of discontent with Israel.”
“It's a vote of encouragement to the US to vote in favor of Palestine at the UN Security Council and vote against Netanyahu's arrogance,” he said.
Israeli journalist Gal Berger downplayed the significance of Sweden’s move and believes it could do more harm than good.
“Everybody knows that these kind of verbal measures do not create the reality on the ground and the result is that the people, in this case the Palestinians, will face an increase of hopes rather than a real change on the ground” he told The Media Line.
The Palestinian publisher of “This Week in Palestine,” a monthly magazine that covers cultural, social, and political issues, says he has mixed feelings about the move. “This gives a boost to Palestinian dignity and aspiration to an independent state, however, it also gives a false boost to the two-state solution which in my opinion is a dead horse,” Sani P. Meo told The Media Line.
In 2012, the United Nations General Assembly voted to upgrade Palestine’s status to non-member observer state, a status which grants Palestinians access to UN agencies and the International Criminal Court, where they can file formal complaints against Israel. “This move by Sweden is more than symbolic, because it gets us closer to exercise our right and take Israel to the ICC,” Barghouti said, adding this was a result of the grass roots movement.
Fadi Elsalameen, an adjunct senior fellow at the American Security Project, a Washington, DC think tank says the Swedish recognition is symbolic, but could end up in the long run cornering Israel. He says he thinks Netanyahu has strained the US-Israel relationship to a point where it's difficult for any American diplomat to come to his aid on this topic.
"The U.S. will say what it said before but will do nothing to stop countries from recognizing a Palestinian state, especially as long as Netanyahu continues to prioritize the survival of his premiership over making peace with the Palestinians," Elsalameen told The Media Line.