Leading the way

Sweden has made an honorable move by officially recognizing the state of Palestine and becoming the first European Union nation to do so.

It agreed to Palestinians’ right to self determination asserting that the people had the right to live peacefully in their homeland that already had a government to take care. Sweden became the 131^st country to recognize Palestine besides seven other new EU members such as Bulgaria, Cyprus, Hungary, Slovakia, Malta and Poland. Israel, as expected, condemned Sweden’s decision, recalling the envoys and calling it “unfortunate”, saying that the move would only reinforce the Palestinian extremist elements. Palestinians have been trying for peace negotiations with Israel to form a state and demanding the Israelis to withdraw from the occupied regions. But the US brokered negotiations had collapsed due to Israel’s tough stance and since then the Palestinians had been trying to lobby the UN and the international community to recognize Palestinian sovereignty.

Palestinian leadership welcomed the move with the President Mahmoud Abbas lauding it as “brave and historic” and calling on other countries to follow Sweden’s example. Sweden’s announcement brings great relief to the Palestinians amidst growing tension and criticism due to the Israeli settlements in West Bank and East Jerusalem. Netanyahu has continued to settle thousands of Israelis on the banks of Jordhan River every year. The Israeli forces have also completely sealed off the Al Aqsa masjid for the first time in decades restricting the Muslim worshippers from performing the prayers inside. The restrictions have been creating tensions over the past weeks leading to regular clashes in the region. The move came after the shooting of an Israeli activist in Jerusalem.

Israel has even denied the basic human rights of the Palestinians ignoring the UN warnings and that of the world leaders, the atrocities in Gaza being the latest instance. Israeli moves are a clear repudiation of the Oslo agreement between the Israeli government and the Palestine Liberation Organisation that called for a resolution of ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict and formation of a self-interim government in Palestine, an authority that would be responsible for the control of the territory. But Israeli demands of expanding the Zionist nation across Palestine through coldblooded and inhuman treatment of the inhabitants, is unjustifiable. The world nations should be following Sweden’s trail and acknowledge the state of Palestinian whose populace has been driven away from their homeland for almost six decades.