Recognitions of Palestinian statehood are a rebuke to Israel, if a largely symbolic one. (2024)

Recognitions of Palestinian statehood are a rebuke to Israel, if a largely symbolic one.

The moves will likely have little immediate effect on conditions for Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank or in Gaza, where health authorities say that more than 35,000 people have been killed in over seven months of Israeli bombardment and ground combat. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel called the moves “a prize for terrorism” and said that it would “not stop us from reaching a victory over Hamas.”

The White House flatly rejected unilateral recognition of Palestinian statehood, with National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson saying that President Biden “believes a Palestinian state should be realized through direct negotiations between the parties.”

But the announcements made clear the view in a growing number of capitals that Palestinian sovereignty cannot wait for a permanent peace deal with Israel, whose right-wing government largely opposes a Palestinian state.

“Palestinians have a fundamental, independent right to an independent state,” Jonas Gahr Store, the prime minister of Norway, said at a news conference in Oslo announcing the decision, which will go into effect on Tuesday.

Spain’s decision will take effect the same day, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said, adding that Spain had been forced to act because Mr. Netanyahu did not have a plan for long-term peace with the Palestinians.

“The two-state solution is in danger,” Mr. Sanchez said in remarks to Parliament, referring to a proposed framework for establishing an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel. “It’s time to move from words to action — to tell millions of innocent Palestinians who are suffering that we are with them, that there is hope,” he added.

Prime Minister Simon Harris of Ireland said at a news conference that he was confident that other countries would soon join them in recognizing Palestinian statehood.

Maya Sion-Tzidkiyahu, an expert on Israeli-European relations, said the announcements highlighted the erosion of the global support Israel saw immediately after the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attacks that touched off the war in Gaza.

“It proves again to us, as Israelis, the extent to which we are ever more isolated,” said Ms. Sion-Tzidkiyahu, an analyst at Mitvim, an Israeli foreign policy research group.

More than 140 countries and the Holy See have recognized a Palestinian state, but most Western European countries and the United States have not. The longstanding U.S. position is that recognition should be achieved through negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, and that while it supports a two-state solution, unilateral measures by third parties will not advance that goal.

Israel strongly opposes international recognition of a Palestinian state — Mr. Netanyahu has called the establishment of such a state an “existential danger” — and maintains that Israel needs to negotiate directly with Palestinian leaders on a permanent solution.

But serious negotiations on a two-state solution haven’t been held for over a decade. And some observers argue that by not recognizing a Palestinian state, the West has enabled a far-right Israeli agenda opposed to its existence. It “gives leverage to Israel to keep encroaching on the land and resources and the people of the other state,” Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian envoy to Britain, said in a recent interview.

Palestinian leaders based in the West Bank welcomed the announcements. “We believe it will help preserve the two-state solution and give Palestinians hope that they will have their own state side by side with Israel in peace and security,” Ziad Abu Amr, a senior Palestinian official, said in an interview.

Wednesday’s announcements were the latest blow to Israel on the international stage, and came days after the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor requested arrest warrants for Mr. Netanyahu and Israel’s defense minister, along with leaders of Hamas, on war crimes charges stemming from the Oct. 7 attacks and the Israeli offensive in Gaza.

Spain, Ireland and Norway have all strongly criticized Israel’s conduct of the war and have historically been strong supporters of the Palestinians. Ireland’s support for Palestinians has deep roots; in Spain, Mr. Sanchez has been a leading voice in Europe for the protection of Palestinian rights.

Norway has historically cast itself as a mediator between Israel and the Palestinians. In 1993, it hosted the clandestine meetings that led to the Oslo Accords, the framework that came close to resolving the conflict, but ultimately failed.

Prime Minister Store said Norway had acted with Spain and Ireland in an effort to salvage the possibility of a two-state solution in the face of an Israeli government that has openly rejected it.

Offering Palestinians who favor democracy and a sovereign Palestine alongside Israel, Mr. Store said in an interview, is an attempt to break what he described as “a downward spiral, with militant groups like Hamas setting the agenda on the Palestinian side” and the Israeli government “establishing hundreds of thousands of settlers” on occupied land.

He also said that the move sent “a clear message against Hamas,” he said, which is acting with terror and refusing to recognize Israel and a two-state solution.

“I wish to give credence and support to those parts of the Palestinian fabric who work for civilized principles of statehood,” Mr. Store said.

The announcements by Spain, Norway and Ireland and Wednesday do not, on their own, pose a major diplomatic problem for Israel, said Ms. Sion-Tzidkiyahu, the analyst. But the picture could change if more powerful states like Germany or France felt pressure to make similar declarations, she added.

“For now, we can live with it, because it does not have any real meaning,” she said. “It has no effect on the ground.”

Henrik Pryser Libell, Adam Rasgon, Victoria Kim, Michael D. Shear and Steven Erlanger contributed reporting.

New footage is released of Hamas militants taking female soldiers hostage.

“I’m asking you, please show this clip every day, open your broadcasts with it,” Eli Albag, whose daughter Liri Albag can be seen in the video, said in a television interview with Israel’s Channel 12. “Until somebody wakes up, the nation wakes up, and realizes that they’ve been abandoned there for 229 days.”

On Thursday, the day after the video was made public, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that Israel’s war cabinet had ordered its negotiators to “continue talks to bring home the hostages” held in Gaza. But hopes for immediate progress appeared remote in the shadow of Israel’s ongoing military operation in Rafah, in southern Gaza, from which over 800,000 Palestinians have fled, according to the United Nations.

Some Israeli politicians immediately seized on the video on Wednesday to try to rebuff the decision by Ireland, Norway, and Spain to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state. Israel Katz, the foreign minister, said he would screen the footage during a “severe reprimand” of the countries’ ambassadors.

In the three-minute edited collection of videos, which were verified by The New York Times, Palestinian fighters, some wearing Hamas headbands, can be seen binding the hands of five Israeli women who served as lookouts at Nahal Oz, a military base near the Gaza border. At least two of the hostages’ faces are bloodied, and they appear to be wearing pajamas. The militants repeatedly threaten the women.

One of the militants calls the women “dogs,” vowing to crush them. One of the women can be heard telling the militants that she had “a friend in Palestine,” even as another begs to know if any of them speak English.

In a statement, Hamas said that the scenes presented in the edited video “could not be confirmed.” The group also claimed that a translation provided by the Israeli authorities was incorrect and included phrases “that were not said by any of the fighters who appeared in the video.”

Talks to secure the release of the more than 125 hostages still being held in Gaza have been at a standstill since Israel began its assault on the southern city of Rafah in early May. Israeli forces operating in northern Gaza retrieved the bodies of four Israelis abducted on Oct. 7, heightening fears for the remaining captives.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum identified the Israeli hostage soldiers in the video as Naama Levy, Agam Berger, Liri Albag, Karina Ariev and Daniela Gilboa, all aged 19 or 20. The footage was recorded by body cameras worn by the Hamas militants who abducted them, the organization said.

Families of hostages met with senior Israeli leaders on Wednesday, including Yoav Gallant, the defense minister, and Benny Gantz, a member of the country’s war cabinet, in an attempt to lobby for an immediate agreement with Hamas.

“The video is a damning testament to the nation’s failure to bring home the hostages, who have been forsaken for 229 days,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement.

In a statement on social media, Mr. Gantz said he was appalled by the footage of the five hostages’ abduction, and vowed to make “difficult decisions” if necessary in order to bring home the remaining captives in Gaza.

Yair Lapid, the leader of Israel’s parliamentary opposition, said the video was “a reminder to the world of the evil we are fighting in Gaza.”

Dmitriy Khavin, Alexander Cardia and Riley Mellen contributed reporting.

Advertisem*nt

SKIP ADVERTIsem*nT

The war is creating a widening divide between Europe and Israel.

Israel still has staunch allies within the European Union, especially Hungary and the Czech Republic, and key players like Germany, despite growing discomfort with Israel’s conduct, have not shown any inclination to alter their stance. The growing fissures within Europe mean that the consensus-driven European Union will not change its positions any time soon.

But European countries face rising international and domestic pressure to take a firmer stand against Israel’s handling of the Palestinian territories, and particularly the devastating war in Gaza.

Sweden prominently became one of a handful of European Union members to recognize Palestinian statehood a decade ago. Europe has long supported the eventual creation of a Palestinian state — the “two-state solution” that Israel’s government steadfastly opposes — and voiced frustration with Israel’s handling of the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank, but most nations have been unwilling to go further.

Instead, the European Union, before the war, was moving closer to Israel, including through financially and politically important partnerships in trade and science.

The war, and the way it has evolved, are changing that. The sympathetic views that sustained European support for Israel after the Oct. 7 attacks is waning as the war continues, the humanitarian situation in Gaza worsens, and Israel looks to many people less like a victim and more like an aggressor.

Ireland and Spain, E.U. members, and Norway, a nation closely aligned with the bloc, took the next step on Wednesday, recognizing Palestinian statehood — a sharp rebuke to Israel, even if it has little practical effect and came as little surprise. The three European countries have been vocal in their criticism of Israel and support of the Palestinian cause, even as they have condemned Hamas and the brutal assault it led against Israel on Oct. 7.

If more of their neighbors follow their lead, the European Union could become a major counterweight to the American position that Palestinian statehood should result only from a negotiated settlement with Israel. That would deepen the rift between Europe and Israel.

There have been warnings and concerns, from Europe and other parts of the world, about Israel’s deadly and destructive campaign against Hamas in Gaza. Particular attention now turns to Belgium, another deeply pro-Palestinian E.U. country that has stepped up its criticism of how Israel is handling the war.

“We certainly have seen a growing chorus of voices, including voices that had previously been in support of Israel, drift in another direction,” Jake Sullivan, President Biden’s national security adviser, said at a news conference. “That is of concern to us because we do not believe that contributes to Israel’s long-term security or vitality.”

The European Union as a bloc has maintained its trade and other agreements with Israel, despite growing calls to sever or drastically limit them.

A majority of the 27 E.U. countries have held largely similar positions on the Israel-Hamas war since Oct. 7 and have undergone similar shifts.

They began with revulsion at the Hamas-led attack that killed an estimated 1,200 people and captured more than 240 hostages, support for Israel’s right to defend itself and continued hope for a two-state solution. They called for restraint by Israel as it bombarded, blockaded and invaded Gaza. Then came outright, increasingly sharp criticism of an Israeli campaign that has killed about 35,000 people — combatants and civilians — so far, forced most Gazans to flee their homes, caused shortages of food and medicines and leveled many of the territory’s buildings.

In standing by Israel, countries like Hungary and the Czech Republic may play a decisive role in determining what the European Union can and — especially — what it cannot do when it comes to the Middle East. Austria, too, has remained close to Israel while others have criticized it.

Foreign policy is a national prerogative jealously guarded by E.U. members that cede many other powers to the bloc. The group’s positions in international affairs can be reached only by unanimous consensus, making it unlikely that it will take a clear position on Israel and Palestine any time soon.

When the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor on Monday requested arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant of Israel, most European countries, and the E.U. itself, stopped short of taking an overt position on the move, but said that they respected the court’s independence.

But the Czech prime minister, Petr Fiala, said on social media that seeking the arrest of “the representatives of a democratically elected government together with the leaders of an Islamist terrorist organization is appalling and completely unacceptable.”

Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary called it “absurd and shameful.”

But Belgium’s foreign minister, Hadja Lahbib, said, “Crimes committed in Gaza must be prosecuted at the highest level, regardless of the perpetrators.”

The Foreign Ministry of France, the bloc’s second-largest nation, said, “France supports the International Criminal Court, its independence and the fight against impunity in all situations.”

Recognizing a Palestinian state is “not taboo” for France but the right moment has not yet come, the French foreign minister said on Wednesday after several European countries officially took the step. “This decision must be useful,” Stéphane Séjourné, the foreign minister, said in a statement.

Though France has refrained so far from acting on its own, last month it voted in favor of a U.N. Security Council resolution to recognize Palestine as a full member state of the United Nations. Britain, no longer in the European Union but still influential, abstained from that vote.

The United States, France and Britain are all permanent Security Council members, with the power to veto any action there. Only the United States used that power, demonstrating the widening divide with Europe.

The evolution of Germany’s stance will play an important role in determining the direction of E.U. relations with Israel. Germany is the bloc’s biggest member and has long expressed a unique commitment to Israel as a result of its Nazi history and the Holocaust.

Berlin started on the pro-Israel end of the E.U. spectrum in the immediate aftermath of Oct. 7, but now it more openly criticizes the way Israel is conducting the war, and it has called for an immediate cease-fire, in opposition to Israel and the United States.

At a news conference in Berlin, Kathrin Deschauer, a spokeswoman for the German Foreign Ministry, did not signal any change in her country’s stand when asked about the Spanish, Irish and Norwegian recognition of Palestine.

“An independent state of Palestine remains a firm goal of German foreign policy,” she said. It is an urgent matter, she added, but must come at the end of a “process of dialogue.”

Aurelien Breeden contributed reporting from Paris, and Christopher F. Schuetze from Berlin.

What does it mean to recognize a Palestinian state?

The foreign minister of Norway, Espen Barth Eide, told a news conference that the country’s representative office to the Palestinian Authority, which was opened in the West Bank in 1999, would become an embassy. He gave no date for this change but said it would enable Norway to enter into bilateral agreements.

Recognition would also have some “domestic legal effects in Norway in areas where issues related to the state of Palestine arise,” he said.

Statements by the leaders of Ireland and Spain focused on the need for peace in Gaza and the importance of a two-state solution, but did not mention embassies or other immediate changes.

“Recognition of Palestine is not the end of a process, it is the beginning,” said Simon Harris, the taoiseach, or prime minister, of Ireland. He said that Ireland was recognizing the right of a Palestinian state to exist in peace and security within internationally agreed borders, and said that to do so sent a message “that there is a viable alternative to the nihilism of Hamas.”

Mr. Harris said he would travel to Brussels on Sunday to meet more than 40 partners from the Middle East, Europe and elsewhere “to discuss how recognition can make a concrete, practical impact to ending this horrible conflict and implementing a two-state solution.”

To date, around 140 countries, mainly outside Western Europe, have recognized a Palestinian state, according to the Palestinian Authority’s website. These do not include the United States, Israel’s most significant ally, or Britain, France or Germany.

The announcements on Wednesday fit into a broader Palestinian drive for diplomatic recognition, though the advances so far have had little immediate impact on the lives of people in the West Bank and Gaza.

The United Nations voted in 1947 to create an independent Arab state alongside a Jewish one, but the plan was rejected by neighboring Arab governments and Palestinian Arabs, and the state of Israel was founded amid a war the following year. In the decades since, plans for a two-state solution have repeatedly been stymied.

This month, the U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly adopted a resolution declaring that Palestinians qualify for full membership status at the United Nations. The Assembly can only grant full membership with the approval of the Security Council, and the United States would almost inevitably wield its veto power to kill such a measure, as it did last month.

Even though a majority in the General Assembly supports Palestinian statehood, the resolution was the first time the body had voted on the issue of full membership, reflecting solidarity with Palestinians that appears to have deepened in some nations as a result of the war in Gaza.

Palestine became a member of UNESCO, the United Nations cultural organization, in 2011, but a bid for full U.N. membership failed. The next year, Palestine was granted the lesser status of observer at the United Nations, a level shared by the Holy See.

Observers can participate in U.N. General Assembly sessions but are not allowed to vote. They also can join the International Court of Justice, which is currently hearing a case on the legality of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories.

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, on Monday requested arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and Hamas leaders on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Israel does not recognize the court, but Palestine has been a member of the court since 2015.

Palestine is also party to a number of treaties, and became a member of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in 2018.

Henrik Pryser Libell contributed reporting.

Advertisem*nt

SKIP ADVERTIsem*nT

Israel’s finance minister says he will withhold tax revenues from the Palestinian Authority.

Mr. Smotrich’s office signaled that the decision was at least partly a response to Spain, Norway and Ireland recognizing Palestinian statehood, and that the Palestinian leadership bore responsibility for campaigning for the move.

“They are acting against Israel legally, diplomatically and for unilateral recognition,” said Eytan Fuld, a spokesman for Mr. Smotrich, referring to the authority. “When they act against the state of Israel, there must be a response.”

The Israeli move drew a rebuke from the White House, but no threat of action in response.

“I think it’s wrong on a strategic basis, because withholding funds destabilizes the West Bank. It undermines the search for security and prosperity for the Palestinian people, which is in Israel’s interests,” Jake Sullivan, President Biden’s national security adviser, said at a news conference. “And I think it’s wrong to withhold funds that provide basic goods and services to innocent people.”

Mohammad Mustafa, the recently inaugurated Palestinian Authority prime minister, warned that the dire fiscal situation was contributing to a “very serious moment” in the West Bank, which has faced increasing unrest since the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attacks on Israel.

He said that he was set to meet top diplomats from countries that have traditionally provided funding for the authority next week in Brussels. “We go through an extremely difficult time trying to deliver services to our people on the ground, and they’re already under military action,” Mr. Mustafa said in a video distributed by his office. “And on top of that, we cannot pay them to do the basic things. This is war.”

Israel also recalled its ambassadors from Spain, Ireland and Norway for consultations on Wednesday morning. Israel Katz, the Israeli foreign minister, said he had summoned the countries’ envoys to Israel for a “severe scolding” following “their governments’ decision to award a gold medal to Hamas terrorists.”

Mr. Netanyahu’s office did not respond to a request for comment on Mr. Smotrich’s statement.

Under decades-old agreements, Israel collects customs and import taxes on behalf of the Palestinian Authority. Those revenues constitute most of the Palestinian budget, particularly as international aid has declined. But Mr. Smotrich — who has labeled the Palestinian Authority “an enemy” — had already delayed transferring the latest tranche of funds before the announcements on Wednesday, said Mr. Fuld and a Palestinian official. The Palestinian official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

The Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority is already in a severe financial crisis following tightened Israeli restrictions on its funding and a depressed West Bank economy stemming from the war. This month, it managed to pay only 50 percent of the salaries of tens of thousands of civil servants.

Diplomats and analysts have warned that the Palestinian government’s deepening financial problems could lead to even more unrest in the West Bank. More than 500 Palestinians have been killed in the territory, many in clashes with Israeli forces, since the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7 prompted Israel to go to war in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Authority Health Ministry.

Palestinians have faced tightening Israeli restrictions since Oct. 7. Over 100,000 Palestinians who worked in Israel were barred from entering, creating mass unemployment overnight. Near-nightly raids, Israeli road closures, and stricter checkpoints have further choked the Palestinian economy.

The Palestinian Authority traditionally disburses some of the tax funds collected by Israel to Gaza. After the war broke out in October, Mr. Smotrich said he would withhold that part from the amount it transfers to the authority. Palestinian officials refused to accept the reduced payments at all in protest.

After a monthslong standoff over the issue, Israeli and Palestinian leaders agreed to a deal stipulating that Norway would hold some of the revenues in trust until Israel agreed they could be sent to the Palestinians. The Palestinians agreed to receive the reduced payments in the meantime.

On Wednesday, Mr. Smotrich called for the government to immediately annul that agreement as well.

Top Israeli officials, including Mr. Netanyahu, have repeatedly excoriated international recognition of a Palestinian state as a “prize for terrorism” after the Oct. 7 attack.

Most of the current hard-line Israeli government rejects the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, practically ruling out peace talks to end Israel’s decades-long occupation.

President Biden and Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken have said that after the war, Gaza should be unified with the West Bank under a “revitalized” Palestinian Authority. Israel has remained vehemently opposed to that idea. The authority in its current form is also unpopular among Palestinians, who view it as complicit in Israel’s occupation.

Yair Lapid, the leader of Israel’s parliamentary opposition, said he agreed with Mr. Netanyahu that the three countries’ decisions were “disgraceful.” But he also called it “an unprecedented diplomatic failure” for Israel in a statement on social media, an implicit reproach of Mr. Netanyahu.

Health officials report that the death toll has risen to eight in Israel’s raid of Jenin in the West Bank.

“No one can leave their homes; the military’s snipers are spread out over the roofs of the homes they took over, preventing anyone from moving in the streets,” said Nidal Naghnaghieh, a resident of Jenin.

Israel has increased its West Bank incursions in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel, carrying out near-nightly military raids into Palestinian cities and neighborhoods. More than 500 Palestinians have been killed, according to health officials.

Many of the raids have been in Jenin camp, a more than 70-year-old refugee community within the larger city of Jenin that is populated mainly by Palestinian refugees and their descendants who were expelled or fled from their homes in present-day Israel during the war that surrounded the creation of the state of Israel.

Jenin has long been known as a bastion of armed resistance to the Israeli occupation and was the target of frequent military raids even before the war in Gaza.

The Israeli military did not respond to questions about the raid.

“The situation in the camp for the second day of their raid is really difficult, they have blown up several homes,” said Mr. Naghnaghieh, who was outside when the raid began and has not been able to return home for two days. His family is stuck inside their home, he said.

Many men and boys in the camp have been detained by the Israeli forces, he said.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said Israeli forces shot at one of their ambulances on Tuesday while it was trying to rescue the wounded, but it gave little detail.

“There are martyrs and people don’t know the fate of those who have been wounded,” said Mohammad Al-Sayid, a member of the Jenin city council.

Advertisem*nt

SKIP ADVERTIsem*nT

Norway’s recognition carries significance because of its role in 1993 talks.

Norway’s foreign minister said in March that “Israel’s use of military force is having a disproportionately severe impact on the civilian population and is not in line with international humanitarian law,” and called for a cease-fire.

Norway also continued to fund UNRWA, the main U.N. agency that helps Palestinian refugees, after several other countries stopped doing so following Israel’s allegations that about a dozen of the agency’s employees had been involved in the Oct. 7 attacks.

In February, Norway testified at the International Court of Justice, stating that Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem were among the biggest obstacles to peace in the region.

The Oslo Accords were landmark agreements that included mutual recognition between the government of Israel and the Palestinian leadership, which was able to return to the occupied territories from exile. The accords also established the Palestinian Authority, which was meant to be an interim body exercising limited Palestinian self-rule in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

In 2000, continued negotiations toward a permanent peace treaty to establish an independent Palestinian state alongside an Israeli one dissolved into a second Palestinian uprising and an Israeli military clampdown.

Jonas Gahr Store, the prime minister of Norway, said on Wednesday that “a recognition of Palestine is support to moderate forces that are on the defensive, in a long and gruesome conflict.”

He called the recognition “an investment in the only solution that can give lasting peace in the Middle East,” and he urged other countries to follow suit “so that the process towards a two-state solution finally can begin again.”

In recognizing a Palestinian state, Ireland nods to its own history.

Mr. Harris was nodding to the Republic of Ireland’s quest for self-rule in the early part of the 20th century after hundreds of years of British rule. He detailed how, on Jan. 21, 1919, Ireland asked the world to recognize its right to independence.

“Our message to the free nations of the world was a plea for international recognition of our independence, emphasizing our distinct national identity, our historical struggle and our right to self-determination and justice,” he said. “Today we use the same language to support the recognition of Palestine as a state.”

Ireland condemned Hamas after the group led the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that officials there say killed some 1,200 people. And since the start of the conflict in Gaza, it has sharply rebuked Israel for its assault that Gazan authorities say has left more than 35,000 people dead.

Mr. Harris emphasized that Ireland’s announcement, which came on the same day as similar moves by Spain and Norway, did not diminish his country’s relationship with Israel. Instead, he said, it was an acknowledgment that Israel and a state of Palestine had an equal right to exist.

“I want to know in years to come that Ireland spoke up, spoke out, in favor of peace,” he added.

The Republic of Ireland has a deep history of support for Palestinians and for their efforts to establish an independent state, and the announcement on Wednesday drew support from across the political spectrum and from within the country’s coalition government.

The small island of Ireland — which is made up of the independent Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, which remained part of the United Kingdom — also experienced its own seemingly intractable sectarian conflict between mostly Catholic nationalists who supported independence and mostly Protestant unionists who supported alignment with Britain.

That conflict, which was marked by thousands of lives lost in terrorist bombings, shootings and clashes with the military and police over decades that came to be known as The Troubles, came to a close with the Good Friday agreement in 1998.

“Ireland has for many decades recognized the State of Israel and its right to exist in peace and security,” Mr. Harris said. “We had hoped to recognize Palestine as part of a two-state peace deal, but instead we recognize Palestine to keep the hope of that two-state solution alive.”

Mr. Harris also drew on Ireland’s history when he made a distinction between Hamas terrorism and the broader Palestinian population.

Asked whether recognition of Palestinian statehood would empower Hamas, Mr. Harris said: “Hamas is not the Palestinian people, and here in Ireland, better than most countries in the world, we know what it’s like when a terrorist organization seeks to hijack your identity and seeks to speak for you.”

It was a clear reference to the deadly terror attacks carried out decades ago by paramilitary groups across the islands of Ireland and Britain, often in the name of Irish independence.

“Palestine is made up of people, decent people. So is Israel,” he said, adding: “I think right-thinking people around the world are able to differentiate between the actions of terrorists and the decent people of a state.”