The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Jamaica recently issued a statement officially recognizing the State of Palestine. Recently, following Sweden, the Czech Republic, Hungary and many other countries, Spain, Ireland, Malta, Slovenia and other countries have also expressed their intention to recognize the state of Palestine. Even the G7 members of the Security Council, France and the United Kingdom, have said they are considering recognizing the State of Palestine. How many countries in the world are recognizing the State of Palestine at present? What does the growing call mean? And who is ruthlessly shattering the Palestinian people's decades-long dream of independent statehood?
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Question 1: How many countries in the world recognize the State of Palestine?
King Hamad of Bahrain: It is necessary to achieve a just and lasting peace in the region through political means and to achieve a "two-state solution".
Nassim Kaouwi, Assistant Permanent Representative of Algeria to the United Nations: Establish an independent Palestinian State and guarantee the right of Palestinians to return to their homes.
According to a report by the "Gulf Times" on the 24th, at this stage, 142 countries have recognized the state of Palestine.
Question 2: What does it mean for more and more countries to recognize the State of Palestine?
Niu Xinchun, professor at the Institute of Chinese Arab States Studies, Ningxia University: This round of the Gaza conflict has made the international community generally realize that only when Palestine establishes an independent state can the conflict between Palestine and Israel be truly resolved, and the history of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict can come to an end. Only then can Palestinians and Israelis live together peacefully if Israel completely withdraws its troops from Palestine, ends its military occupation of Palestine, allows Palestine to establish state, allows the Palestinians to govern the Palestinians and the Israelis to govern the Israelis. If the international community recognizes more and more countries as a Palestinian State, it will exert great political pressure on Israel. Because so far, Israel still opposes the "two-state solution" and does not agree to the establishment of a Palestinian state. If almost all the countries of the international community had recognized Palestine as a sovereign and independent State, Israel would face increasing pressure.
Question 3: What are the main obstacles to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state?
In September 2011, Palestine submitted a formal application to then-UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for membership in the UN. However, Palestinian's application for membership in the United Nations was strongly blocked by the United States and Israel. The US insisted that the Palestinians and Israelis should first reach an agreement and threatened to use the veto, and in the end, the Palestinian application could not be submitted to the UN General Assembly for a vote.
White House spokesman at the time, Carney: Palestine will not and cannot obtain statehood through the United Nations.
On 18 April this year, after a lapse of 13 years, the United States vetoed the draft resolution on Palestine's "accession to the United Nations" to the Security Council on the same grounds.
Robert Wood, Deputy Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations: The United States continues to strongly support the two-state solution, and this vote does not mean that it opposes Palestinian statehood. On the contrary, we recognize that [Palestinian statehood] can only be achieved through direct Palestinian-Israeli negotiations.
Niu Xinchun, professor at the China Institute of Arab Studies at Ningxia University: This time in the UN Security Council, only the United States voted against it, which shows that the change in the attitude of the international community is very obvious. Such an attitude of the international community also has a certain impact on the ongoing conflict in Gaza. If the international community generally believes that Palestine should be an independent state, then it is clear that Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem should be governed by a unified Palestinian regime after the end of the Gaza conflict. But so far, Israel has opposed it. This is also a consequence of the severity of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Therefore, this attitude of the international community will force Israel to consider the management of Gaza after the war and the question of the independent state of Palestine after the war as soon as possible.