RAMALLAH: Palestinian Foreign Minister Varsen Aghabekian Shahin said countries recognising a Palestinian state were taking an irreversible step that preserved the two-state solution and brought Palestinian independence and sovereignty closer. Britain, Canada and Australia formally recognised a Palestinian state on Sunday, joining other nations in a move aimed at reviving momentum for a two-state solution but which has been criticised by Israel and the United States.
"Now is the time. Tomorrow is a historic date we need to build on. It's not the end," Shahin told reporters in Ramallah. "It is a move bringing us closer to sovereignty and independence. It might not end the war tomorrow, but it's a move forward, which we need to build on and amplify," she said, referring to Israel's nearly two-year military campaign in Gaza.
Israel has sharply criticised the step, with some ministers dismissing it as irrelevant, saying it does not change the realities on the ground. Others have insisted that a Palestinian state can only be achieved through direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this month declared there would never be a Palestinian state.
Shahin said that Israel had no intention of negotiating, citing Netanyahu's remarks at a ceremony this month to build a new settlement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank that would cut off northern Palestinian communities from those in the south. "This recognition is certainly not symbolic. It is a practical, tangible, irreversible step that countries must take if they are invested in preserving the two-state solution," Shahin said. France and Saudi Arabia have led efforts to revive momentum for the two-state solution, with several countries to recognise a Palestinian state this week at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, has dismissed the efforts as a stunt and counterproductive. Israeli officials have hardened their positions on settlement construction and West Bank annexation as international momentum for Palestinian statehood has grown. Israel has faced growing diplomatic isolation this year, as many of its closest allies, with the exception of the US, have condemned its assault on Gaza. Some have sanctioned Israeli ministers for inciting violence against Palestinians.
Shahin said political pressure on Israel must shift to economic measures "to hold Israel accountable and protect the Palestinian people." "Today, Gaza burns. Today, Gaza is destroyed. Today in Gaza, people are systematically murdered," Shahin said, accusing Israel of perpetrating genocide in Gaza, an allegation Israel denies. A United Nations Commission of Inquiry last week said that it had concluded that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, a finding also reached by a scholars' association, Amnesty International, and two leading human rights groups in Israel.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces blew up more residential buildings in Gaza City on Sunday, killing at least 31 Palestinians and prompting many others to flee, Gazan health authorities said, as Israel's tanks pushed further into the densely populated city. Nearly two years into the war, Israel describes Gaza City as the last bastion of Hamas and the military has been demolishing housing blocks it says were being used by the Palestinian group since launching its ground assault in the city this month.
Israel's Gaza City offensive has drawn rebuke abroad, prompting some of Israel's Western allies to announce they will formally recognise a Palestinian state ahead of the annual leaders' gathering at the UN General Assembly this week. The offensive has also alarmed families of Israeli hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza. Twenty of those 48 captives are thought to still be alive. — Reuters
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