BBC News, 3
October 2014
Sweden has just elected a new centre-left government led by Prime Minister Stefan Lofven (second left) |
Related
Stories
- Sweden turns left as far right soars
- US defends Palestinian co-operation
- Row over accepting Israel as 'Jewish'
Sweden is
to "recognise the state of Palestine", Prime Minister Stefan Lofven
has said, the first long-term EU member country to do so.
"The
conflict between Israel and Palestine can only be solved with a two-state
solution," he said during his inaugural address in parliament.
It should
be "negotiated in accordance with international law", he said.
Sweden last
month voted out the centre-right Alliance coalition of Fredrik Reinfeldt after
eight years.
That
allowed the Social Democrats led by Mr Lofven to form a government with other
parties on the left including the Greens.
"A
two-state solution requires mutual recognition and a will to peaceful
co-existence. Sweden will therefore recognise the state of Palestine," Mr
Lofven said on Friday, without giving a timeline for the recognition.
Sweden will
join more than 130 other countries that recognise a Palestinian state.
Most of the
EU's 28 member states have refrained from recognising Palestinian statehood and
those that do - such as Hungary, Poland and Slovakia - did so before joining
the bloc.
Long
campaign
The
Palestinians have long sought to establish an independent, sovereign state in
the West Bank, including East Jerusalem as its capital, and the Gaza Strip -
occupied by Israel during the 1967 Six Day War.
Correspondents
say Sweden's move is likely to be strongly criticised by Israel and the US, who
argue that an independent Palestinian state should only emerge through
negotiations.
Palestinians say the peace process is hampered by Israeli settlements like this one in the West Bank |
In 1988, the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat unilaterally declared a Palestinian state within the pre-June 1967 lines.
This won
recognition from about 100 countries, mainly Arab, Communist and non-aligned
states - several of them in Latin America.
The 1993
Oslo Accord between the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and Israel led
to mutual recognition. However, two decades of on-off peace talks have since
failed to produce a permanent settlement.
In 2012,
the UN General Assembly voted to upgrade the status of the Palestinians to that
of a "non-member observer state".
It followed
a failed bid to join the international body as a full member state in 2011
because of a lack of support in the UN Security Council.
Related Articles:
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.