Ireland, Spain, and Norway are making strides towards recognizing Palestine as a sovereign state. The leaders of the Spain and Norway countries had meetings discussing the likelihood and logistics of openly championing Palestinian sovereignty, and Ireland is on the brink of recognizing Palestine. Spain has been leveraging a peaceful process of ending the war and declaring Palestine amongst the Israel-Palestinian War, where over 30,000 Palestinians have died after an attack on Israel by Hamas left 1,100 Israelis dead. More countries are pledging their support for Palestine like Malta and Slovenia, but claim that they would do so when the “circumstances are right”. Israel claims that a two-state solution would not solve the decades old conflict. Norway has been strong with its support for Israel, and is amongst the 139 UN countries that do so as well.
The Israel-Palestine War has been going on for eight months and a ceasefire doesn’t appear to be on the horizon; it wasn’t declared for the month of Ramadan either. However, it’s important to note that countries are being more vocal in their support for Israel. Not small, power-less countries. Stronger, western based countries who have the people and the stage to let their voices be heard and potentially bring about change. Although the majority of the world’s powerful countries support Israel, these few European countries could mark the turning point for the major countries to not only just support Palestine, but to stop funding Israel. It’s also interesting to see that 2 of the 3 countries are outside of the EU. Norway and (northern) Ireland are perhaps not bound by EU customs to support Israel, and perhaps are more inclined to be vocal and apparent with their views, along with taking action.
The ICJ has told Israel to reduce their civilian casualties and allow for basic supplies to reach people in Gaza, but they have yet to do that. It implies that the ICJ sees a genocide occuring, and yet it hasn’t stopped. South Africa brought the case to the ICJ and has been the only country to outright accuse Israel of genocide, and although the events in Palestine have not been characterized as a genocide, there are signs of one occuring. Only time will truly tell what is happening today in Gaza.