Norway recognizes Palestinian state

The two-state solution is the only way to settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Oslo has said

Norway has officially recognized Palestine as a state, the Nordic country’s government has said. The decision comes into force on May 28, it added.

Oslo is the tenth EU capital to recognize Palestinian statehood. Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia did so in 1988, with Sweden joining them in 2014.

“The Norwegian government has decided that Norway will recognize Palestine as a state,” Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said, as cited in a statement on the government’s official website.

Oslo is making the move amid the conflict in Gaza, in which “tens of thousands [are] killed and injured,” Store stressed. The aim is to “keep alive the only alternative that offers a political solution for Israelis and Palestinians alike: Two states, living side by side, in peace and security,” he said.

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