Sweden has become the first European Union member state to recognize the State of Palestine. This move was not expected to happen so soon.
Newly elected Prime Minister Stefan Lofven first announced the move at his swearing-in ceremony on Oct. 3, but he was not expected to follow through so soon, Haaretz reports.
“Some will claim that today’s decision comes too early. I’m rather afraid it’s too late,” writes Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom in the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter. “The past year, we’ve seen how the peace negotiations once again have halted, how decisions on new settlements on occupied Palestinian land have obstructed a two-state solution and how violence has returned to Gaza.”
http://time.com/...
While Hungary, Poland and Slovakia all recognized Palestine before becoming members of the EU, Sweden is the first EU member to recognize Palestine after having become an EU member.
Other moves within the EU point to a coming major shift in the outlook of EU nations regarding Israel/Palestine.
In early October, the UK Parliament voted on the question of recognizing Palestine :
Ayes 274, Noes 12.
Question accordingly agreed to.
Resolved,
That this House believes that the Government should recognise the state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel, as a contribution to securing a negotiated two state solution.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/...
There were some great speeches made by Parliamentarians, excerpted by kossak subir:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
And last week, the Irish senate agreed unanimously to push the government to recognize Palestine as an independent state.
http://www.thejournal.ie/...
The Spanish parliament will also be voting on recognition of a Palestinian state, and the "yays" are being supported by over 400 Israelis.
http://www.haaretz.com/...
Motivations for support of recognition differ from country to country, but most are rooted in the hope of resuscitating the two-state solution. Sweden has stated that recognition for Palestine puts it on a more even footing with Israel for negotiations. Israeli activists have stated they are horrified at the prospect of one state, and the possibility of apartheid.
Recognition brings up a few other things that could help with negotiations, such as the fact that Israel has indeed declared its borders (contrary to a bizarre Zionist PR effort that has succeeded in confusing journalists, governments and individuals for decades). The other issue is that no land that Israel has acquired since that time (by war or annexation) is actually a part of Israel.
For backup info: Israel declared its borders on May 14, 1948. The borders they declared were the ones delineated in the 1947 UN partition plan. They asked to be recognized as Israel within those borders, and they were.
http://trumanlibrary.org/...
A few days later, on May 20th, Israel illegally captured land that was not part of Israel, and continued to do so until the armistice of 1949. "Five Arab armies" did not enter Israel. In fact, most of the fighting was done in Palestine--see Israel's testimony to the UN security council, describing how Israel was fighting and controlling land "outside the territory of Israel."
http://unispal.un.org/...
So actually, Israel has been occupying land that is not part of Israel since May 20, 1948, not just since 1967. Which means that Jerusalem (both East and West) is not part of Israel, as well as a few other "Israeli" cities, such as Ashkelon and Beer Sheba, which are in the Palestinian territory bordering Egypt. The Acre region that borders Lebanon is Palestinian territory that has never legally been annexed. Jerusalem was never legally annexed. The Golan Heights is Syrian territory that was never legally annexed by Israel.
In any case, injecting these facts into the negotiation and the general understanding of the world's citizens can only help put the Palestinians in a better position.
A total of 135 countries now recognize Palestine.
UPDATE: Thanks everyone. If your are interested in Israel/Palestine and the wider Middle East, follow our group, Adalah - A Just Middle East, by clicking the little heart at the top of the diary next to the group's name.--Fly