Spain, Ireland and Norway officially recognise Palestinian statehood

Islamabad/ COPENHAGEN
Spain, Ireland and Norway officially recognised a Palestinian state on Tuesday, despite an angry reaction from Israel, which has found itself increasingly isolated after more than seven months of conflict in Gaza.
Madrid, Dublin and Oslo said they sought to accelerate efforts to secure a ceasefire in Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza. The three countries say they hope their decision will spur other European Union countries to follow suit.
“It’s the only way of advancing toward what everyone recognises as the only possible solution to achieve a peaceful future, one of a Palestinian state that lives side by side with the Israeli state in peace and security,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in a televised address.
PM Shehbaz welcomes Spain’s announcement to recognise Palestinian state
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday welcomed the announcement by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to formally recognise Palestine as a state.
The prime minister, in a statement, said that the recognition of Palestine as a state by Spain was a positive development in the international scenario which also manifested the rejection of Israeli barbarism against the unarmed Palestinians by the Spanish people and their PM Sanchez.
He strongly condemned the recent unprovoked Israeli bombing of Rafah which martyred another 45 Palestinian people, and reiterated his call for an immediate end to the genocide of the Palestinian population being carried out by Israel.
He reiterated Pakistan’s resolve to continue extending moral, political and diplomatic support to the Palestinian people till the establishment of an independent Palestine state with Quds Al Sharif as its capital.
Danish parliament rejects proposal to recognise Palestinian state
Denmark’s parliament on Tuesday voted down a bill to recognise a Palestinian state, after the Danish foreign minister previously said the necessary preconditions for an independent country were lacking. The Danish bill was first proposed in late February by four left-wing parties.
“We cannot recognise an independent Palestinian state, for the sole reason that the preconditions are not really there,” Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said when the bill was first debated in parliament in April.
“We cannot support this resolution, but we wish that there will come a day where we can,” Rasmussen, who was not present at the vote on Tuesday, added.
French hard-left MP suspended for waving Palestinian flag in parliament
France’s lower house of parliament on Tuesday suspended a deputy from the hard-left Les Insoumis (LFI) party for 15 days for waving a Palestinian flag in the National Assembly, bringing proceedings to a halt for about an hour.
“This is not tolerable,” National Assembly President Yael Braun-Pivet said as she suspended the session and excluded deputy Sebastien Delogu whose deputy’s pay was also halved for two months.
Delogu waved the flag in support of Palestinians amid a barrage of Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip. The war has polarised public opinion around the world with France’s LFI positioning itself as a defender of the Palestinians.
“I waved the Palestinian flag in the National Assembly … because as I speak, France sells weapons, sells parts to supply the Israeli army,” Delogu told reporters. “There is a genocide going on there.”
The incident took place as junior trade minister Franck Riester was answering a question about the situation in Gaza, where Israel’s offensive against Hamas militants has stirred global condemnation for the high civilian toll.