MADRID/GAZA: Norway, Ireland and Spain announced on Wednesday that they will recognize a Palestinian state from May 28, sparking delight from Palestinian leaders and fury from the Zionist entity, more than seven months into the devastating Gaza war. The announcement by the three European countries to formally recognize the State of Palestine drew praise from many countries in the Arab and Muslim world.

Kuwait’s ministry of foreign affairs praised Norway, Ireland and Spain’s decision to formally recognize Palestine as an official independent state. In a press release, the ministry considered this decision a positive step in the direction of achieving justice and freedom for Palestinians, affirming Kuwait’s support in pushing other countries to take similar decisions.

Kuwait also proposed that 10 percent of profits from the Arab Fund for Social and Economic Development be dedicated to the support of Palestine, a Kuwaiti minister said on Wednesday. Speaking to KUNA on the sidelines of the Joint Annual Meetings of Arab Financial Institutions 2024 in Cairo, Kuwait’s Minister of Finance and Minister of State for Economic and Investment Affairs Dr Anwar Al-Mudhaf indicated the proposal was approved by the attendees.

The Zionist entity said it was recalling its envoys to Dublin, Oslo and Madrid for “urgent consultations” and also summoned the three European ambassadors for a rebuke. Most Western governments, including the United States, say they are willing to one day recognize Palestinian statehood — but not before thorny issues are settled, including on final borders and the status of Jerusalem.

But Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said that “recognition of Palestine is a means of supporting the moderate forces which have been losing ground in this protracted and brutal conflict”. “In the midst of a war, with tens of thousands killed and injured, we must keep alive the only alternative that offers a political solution for (Zionists) and Palestinians alike: Two states, living side by side, in peace and security.”

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said his Zionist counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu was “causing so much pain, destruction and resentment in Gaza and the rest of Palestine that the two-state solution is in danger”. And Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris stressed that “a two-state solution is the only way out of the generational cycles of violence, retaliation and resentment”. Harris drew parallels with international recognition of the Irish state in 1919. “From our own history, we know what it means,” he went on, referring to Ireland’s declaration of independence from British rule, which eventually led to formal statehood.

Sweden, which has a large Palestinian community, became the first European Union member in western Europe to recognize Palestinian statehood in 2014.

A Palestinian state was recognized by Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Romania before they joined the EU. In March, Slovenia and Malta signed a statement with Spain and Ireland expressing their willingness to recognize a Palestinian state. Slovenia’s government this month passed a decree on recognizing a Palestine state that will be sent to parliament for approval by mid-June.

According to the Palestinian Authority, which rules parts of the occupied West Bank, 142 of the 193 UN member countries already recognize a Palestinian state. The Palestine Liberation Organization, seen internationally as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, hailed the European moves as “historical”. Hamas also welcomed “an important step towards affirming our right to our land”, while Bassem Naim, a senior Hamas political bureau member, said it would mark “a turning point in the international position on the Palestinian issue”.

A Palestinian in war-torn Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, Ismail Hassuna, 46, said the European trio’s decision was a step that “will restore hope” and should help in efforts to “stop (the Zionist entity) from its heinous crimes”.

Political analyst Ines Abdul Razek, who heads the Palestine Institute for Public Democracy, labeled the decision symbolic but said it was “not a great victory”. “What we need is actual measures, including sanctions and arms embargoes, that can stop the genocide, the erasure of our people and colonization of our land, which (the Zionist entity) has been conducting with total impunity,” said Abdul Razek.

The Zionist entity’s offensive has killed at least 35,709 people in Gaza, mostly women and children. It also imposed a siege that has deprived Gaza’s 2.4 million people of most water, food, medical supplies and fuel, and brought much of the population to the brink of famine. Fierce fighting has raged around Rafah, the last part of Gaza to face a ground invasion, where an AFP team reported more air and artillery strikes early Wednesday.

Heavy battles have also rocked Gaza’s northern and central areas where Hamas forces have regrouped, and more Zionist air strikes have hit Gaza City, Jabalia and Zeitun. Ten people were killed in the central town of Al-Zawaida during the night, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. And the Gaza civil defense agency said six bodies were recovered from the rubble of a family house in Jabalia.

The World Health Organization has said northern Gaza’s last two functioning hospitals, Al-Awda and Kamal Adwan, were besieged by Zionist forces, with more than 200 patients trapped inside. Heavy fighting has also rocked the other major Palestinian territory, the occupied West Bank, where a Zionist raid entered its second day in the city of Jenin. Explosions and gunfire were heard from inside the Jenin refugee camp, an AFP correspondent said, after eight Palestinians were killed on Tuesday. – Agencies