Finland joins the New York Declaration for Peace and prefers not to recognize Palestine unilaterally
The Finnish government announced today, Friday, its joining of the Saudi-French New York Declaration regarding a peaceful solution to the Palestinian issue and the implementation of the two-state solution, in a step that differs from the path of other European countries.
Unlike Spain and Norway, Finland has not recognized Palestine as a state, at a time when the Finnish coalition government is experiencing internal divisions over the issue of official recognition.
Finland's announcement comes at a time when the movement for recognizing the State of Palestine is escalating against the backdrop of the ongoing war in Gaza since October 7, 2023, where several countries, notably European ones, have expressed their intention to take this step during the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York this month.
These European steps have provoked anger from Israel and concern from Washington, which warned that they could have counterproductive results.
In a related context, Belgium proposed a "comprehensive" conditional approach, where the Belgian Foreign Ministry revealed today, Friday, a "comprehensive" approach to the "conditional" recognition of the State of Palestine and increasing pressure on settlers.
It stated in a statement that Belgium "will engage in the declaration that will be issued in New York on September 22 regarding the implementation of the two-state solution. It will also politically signal the recognition of the State of Palestine".
However, it clarified that "official recognition will be issued after the release of all Israeli prisoners held in Gaza, and the "complete" resignation of Hamas from power in the Gaza Strip.
To pressure those it said are "opposing peace and international law," Belgium announced a package of measures that include imposing sanctions on "extremist settlers" and on Hamas leaders.
It also intends to "tighten the ban on arms sales to Israel" and "restrict consular services related to settlement activities" and pursue "violations of international law" judicially, and "prohibit the passage of vessels carrying military equipment to Israel in Belgian ports".
The Belgian government intends to "declare the extremist ministers in the Israeli government and Hamas leaders as undesirable persons in Belgium," and impose a ban on goods coming from the settlements, as part of a "broad European action plan" in this regard.
In the humanitarian aspect, Brussels revealed that it will double medical evacuations from Gaza, in cooperation with the European Union and the United Nations.
Brussels announced that it "will support further actions at the European level" in the same context, affirming its commitment to "contributing to the reconstruction of Palestine, building state institutions, and supporting democratic governance".
