Israel\u2019s Foreign Minister Israel Katz has ordered Israel\u2019s ambassadors from Ireland and Norway to immediately return to Israel, as Norway said it would recognise a Palestinian state and Ireland was expected to do the same. \u201cIreland and Norway intend to send a message today to the Palestinians and the whole world: terrorism pays,\u201d Katz said. He said that the recognition could impede efforts to return Israel\u2019s hostages being held in Gaza and make a cease-fire less likely by \u201crewarding the jihadists of Hamas and Iran.\u201d He also threatened to recall Israel\u2019s ambassador to Spain if the country takes a similar position.<\/p>\n
Earlier Wednesday, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr St\u00f8re said, \u201cThere cannot be peace in the Middle East if there is no recognition.\u201d Gahr St\u00f8re said the Scandinavian country will officially recognize a Palestinian state as of May 28. Several European Union countries have in the past weeks indicated that they plan to make the recognition, arguing a two-state solution is essential for lasting peace in the region. Norway, which is not a member of the European Union but mirrors its moves, has been an ardent supporter of a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe terror has been committed by Hamas and militant groups who are not supporters of a two-state solution and the state of Israel,\u201d the Norwegian government leader said. \u201cPalestine has a fundamental right to an independent state,\u201d Gahr St\u00f8re told a news conference. The move comes as Israeli forces have led assaults on the northern and southern edges of the Gaza Strip in May, causing a new exodus of hundreds of thousands of people, and sharply restricted the flow of aid, raising the risk of famine.<\/p>\n
The Scandinavian country \u201cwill therefore regard Palestine as an independent state with all the rights and obligations that entails,\u201d Gahr Store said. Norway\u2019s recognition of a Palestine state comes more than 30 years after the first Oslo agreement was signed in 1993. Since then, \u201cthe Palestinians have taken important steps towards a two-state solution,\u201d the Norwegian government said.<\/p>\n
It said that the World Bank determined that Palestine had met key criteria to function as a state in 2011, that national institutions have been built up to provide the population with important services. \u201cThe war in Gaza and the constant expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank still mean that the situation in Palestine is more difficult than it has been in decades,\u201d the Norwegian government said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Israel\u2019s Foreign Minister Israel Katz has ordered Israel\u2019s ambassadors from Ireland and Norway to immediately return to Israel, as Norway\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":45059,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[186],"tags":[14292,8259,1380,3763,1418,504,2949,536,8007,1577],"class_list":["post-45058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-ambassadors-recalled","tag-diplomatic-crisis","tag-gaza","tag-ireland","tag-israel-hamas-war","tag-middle-east","tag-norway","tag-palestine","tag-palestinian-state","tag-world-bank"],"reading_time":"3 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45058\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}