THE unity of western governments over previous unconditional support for the state of Israel and its illegal occupation of Palestine was blown apart yesterday as Ireland, Spain and Norway officially ratified recognition of the independent state of Palestine, opening the floodgates for others to follow.
Ireland, Spain and Norway announced their intention to formally recognise Palestine last week in a move that infuriated the Zionist regime, prompting Israel to recall its ambassadors from all three countries.
Speaking just before the vote by the Spanish cabinet to endorse formal recognition of Palestine yesterday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said this was ‘the only route to peace in the Middle East’.
Calling recognition ‘a matter of historic justice’ Sanchez said: ‘The only route towards establishing peace is the establishment of a Palestinian state, living side by side with the state of Israel.’
Sanchez continued: ‘The state of Palestine must be viable with the West Bank and Gaza connected by a corridor and with East Jerusalem as its capital.’ Spain, Sanchez insisted, will not recognise any changes to the pre-1967 borders unless agreed by both sides.
The occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip were among the territories seized by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. This continued occupation has been designated as illegal under United Nations law – law that Israeli regimes have treated with contempt and ignored.
The Israeli government reacted with fury with its foreign minister Israel Katz accusing Sanchez of being a ‘partner to incitement’ to Jewish ‘genocide’.
The only genocide being carried out in Gaza is that being waged by the Zionists against Palestinians.
A genocidal war that has killed over 35,900 Palestinians, mainly women and children, in Gaza in 8 months of constant brutal bombardment and invasion by Israeli troops and tanks.
These genocidal attacks have included the deliberate starvation of Gazans by withholding food, while hospitals have been reduced to rubble and denied the fuel and medical equipment needed to keep babies and the wounded alive.
Millions of workers, young people and masses across the world have no doubt as to who is guilty of genocide and have risen up demanding an end to support for Zionist genocide.
This has created a crisis amongst the western governments that are increasingly having to officially turn their back on the Israeli state which is now viewed as a ‘pariah state’ across the world.
Palestine has already been recognised by 144 countries while 9 countries in the European Union – Sweden, Cyprus, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria – already recognised the Palestinian state before joining the EU. The recognition of the state of Palestine by three major EU countries is a huge blow to Israel and its imperialist backers.
It has split the EU, leaving France to prevaricate saying now is not the time, while Germany, the biggest supplier of weapons to Israel after the US, joined with the US in rejecting outright any unilateral recognition of Palestine, instead saying what was needed was ‘dialogue’. What dialogue is possible with a Zionist regime intent on killing every Palestinian or driving them from their land?
The Tory foreign secretary David Cameron said back in January that Britain would ‘consider’ recognition, only to be swiftly shut down by Sunak.
This united front to protect and continue arming Israel has been blown apart by the massive uprising of millions of workers and youth across Europe, Britain and America, leaving the Zionist regime isolated and in crisis.
Now is the time for this crisis to be brought to a head by the working class in the UK demanding that the TUC stop sitting on the sidelines and take action to force the UK to follow the lead of Ireland, Spain and Norway by immediately recognising the State of Palestine.
The TUC must call an emergency congress to organise a general strike to impose a complete ban on all weapons and financial support to the Israeli government, along with providing the Palestinian masses with all the aid and arms they require to defeat the Zionist occupation and genocide and go forward to the independent state of Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital.
