Norway has handed over diplomatic papers to the Palestinian Authority prime minister in the latest step toward recognizing a Palestinian state, a largely symbolic move that has infuriated Israel.
The handover of papers by Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide to the PA prime minister was made in Brussels, where Mohammad Mustafa is also meeting with foreign ministers of European Union nations and high-level EU officials on Monday to drum up support for the Palestinians. Norway itself is not part of the EU.
The diplomatic move by the three nations was a welcome boost of support for Palestinian officials who have sought for decades to establish statehood in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
“Recognition means a lot for us. It is the most important thing that anybody can do for the Palestinian people,” says Mustafa. “It is a great deal for us.”
The formal recognition by Norway, Spain and Ireland — which all have a record of friendly ties with both the Israelis and the Palestinians, while long advocating for a Palestinian state alongside Israel — is planned for Tuesday.
Some 140 countries — more than two-thirds of the United Nations — recognize a Palestinian state but a majority of the 27 EU nations still do not. Several have said they would recognize it when the conditions are right.
Spanish minister says ‘river to the sea’ slogan endorses 2-state solution
A Spanish cabinet minister who ended a speech with the slogan “from the river to the sea Palestine will be free” says it was an endorsement of the two-state solution.
Labor Minister Yolanda Díaz, who is also a deputy prime minister of Spain, tells the EFE news agency that her call during a speech last week urging the European Union to break ties with Israel was not a call for ethnically cleansing it of Jews, as her critics charge, but an endorsement of how “Israel and Palestine must share a future of peace and prosperity,” Díaz tell EFE.
“I’m not antisemitic,” she adds, responding to criticism to that effect by multiple Jewish groups in Spain and beyond. The slogan refers to the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
European Jewish groups are not convinced by her defense.
“She must resign,” the European Jewish Association says in a statement after Díaz’s clarification. The use of the slogan by Díaz, who ended a filmed speech with it on Wednesday, “carries with it echoes of the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Jews from Spain in 1492.” Her statement “is also an endorsement of Hamas’ ideology,” EJA writes.
ACOM, a pro-Israel lobby group based in Madrid, calls Díaz — a communist and leader of the Sumar far-left party — a “miserable Nazi.”
Home in Herzliya damaged in rocket barrage fired from Rafah
IDF says 8 rockets crossed border into Israel, several intercepted
Eight rockets were launched from the Rafah area in the southern Gaza Strip at central Israel, the military says.
The IDF says the eight rockets crossed the border, and several of them were downed by air defenses.
It earlier said that some 10 rockets were fired.
The attack caused no injuries.
IDF says some 10 rockets fired from Rafah at central Israel
Rocket barrage apparently fired from Rafah area toward central Israel
The rocket barrage fired by the Hamas terror group at central Israel was apparently launched from the Rafah area in the southern Gaza Strip, images posted to social media show.
Last week, The Times of Israel reported that the IDF believes Hamas has the capability to launch rocket attacks on central Israel from the Rafah area, and when troops advance further into the city, the terror group is likely to carry out such an attack.
An image shows that the Hamas rocket barrage on central Israel was launched from the Rafah area.
Rocket barrage fired at central Israel for 1st time in 4 months; Hamas claims responsibility
Multiple interceptions by the Iron Dome air defense system are seen over central Israel, following a rocket barrage launched from the Gaza Strip.
Sirens are sounding in Herzliya, Kfar Shmaryahu, Ramat Hasharon, Tel Aviv, Petah Tikva, and several smaller communities.
Hamas in a statement claims responsibility for the barrage, the first at central Israel in some four months.
IDF says troops found dozens of rocket parts in weapons depot at north Gaza school
Home in northern Israel’s Avivim struck by anti-tank guided missile from Lebanon
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