PLO welcomes Sweden’s announcement of statehood recognition

According to the PLO, 138 countries recognize Palestine as a state, including Brazil, South Africa, Chile, Russia, the Holy See, Argentina, India and China among others.

By TOVAH LAZAROFF
PLO executive committee member Hanan Ashrawi (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
PLO executive committee member Hanan Ashrawi
(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
The PLO on Saturday welcomed Sweden’s announcement that it would become the first major European country to recognize Palestine as a state and urged other European nations to follow suit. 
“The Swedish announcement is in fact a sign of a genuine commitment to justice and the requirements for peace, including the two-state solution on the 1967 boundaries,” said PLO Executive Committee Member Dr. Hanan Ashrawi.
“We hope that other countries in Europe will follow Sweden’s lead. Those who claim to support the two-state solution must realize that in order to reach it, what’s missing is a sovereign Palestinian state,” she said.
According to the PLO, 138 countries recognize Palestine as a state, including Brazil, South Africa, Chile, Russia, the Holy See, Argentina, India and China among others.
But it has failed to gain major recognition in the West, with the European Union and the US preferring to the conflict resolved through negotiation.
“Conditioning recognition of the State of Palestine on the outcome of negotiations with Israel is equivalent to making our right to self-determination an Israeli prerogative. This fails to address the very basis of the values upon which the United Nations was founded, including its responsibility to protect and act accordingly," Ashrawi said.
To date, within the EU, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia have recognized Palestine as a state, they did so before joining the 28-member bloc.
Reuters contributed to this report.