Ireland has announced plans to officially recognize a Palestinian state.
It comes as the three leaders of the coalition government: Taoiseach Simon HarrisTánaiste Micheál Martin and Green Party Minister Eamon Ryan – will hold a press conference in government buildings in Dublin on Wednesday morning.
Harris said it was an “important and historic day for Ireland and Palestine”.
Israel has recalled its envoys to Ireland, claiming Ireland’s decision will encourage terrorism and more instability.
Norway and Spain also announced on Wednesday that they would recognize a Palestinian state.
Currently, eight EU member states recognize the Palestinian state, with Sweden being the most recent in 2014.
It comes just days after the International Criminal Court applied for arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Gaza’s Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar for war crimes.
Speaking on Wednesday, Mr Harris said he was “confident that more countries will join us in taking this important step in the coming weeks”.
He said a two-state solution, in which independent Israeli and Palestinian states coexist, was “the only credible path to peace and security.”
Referring to the founding of the Irish state, Mr Harris said: “We know from our own history what it means, recognition is an act of powerful political and symbolic value.”
He said the decision was made “to provide hope and encouragement to the people of Palestine in one of their darkest hours.”
The Palestinian militant group Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, with hundreds of armed men infiltrating communities near the Gaza Strip.
According to Israeli figures, about 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 people were taken to Gaza as hostages.
More than 35,000 Palestinians in Gaza have so far been killed by the Israeli army in response, the Hamas-led Health Ministry in Gaza says.
Also on Wednesday morning, Israel announced it would recall its envoys to Ireland and Norway “for urgent consultations.”
“I am sending a clear message to Ireland and Norway: Israel will not back down against those who undermine its sovereignty and endanger its security,” Foreign Minister Israel Katz said.
“Today’s decision sends a message to Palestinians and the world: terrorism pays,” he said.
“After the terrorist organization Hamas carried out the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, committing horrific sexual crimes that the world witnessed, these countries chose to reward Hamas and Iran by recognizing a Palestinian state,” Katz said .
“This twisted move by these countries is an injustice to the memory of the victims of 7/10, a blow to the efforts to return the 128 hostages, and a boost to Hamas and the Iranian jihadists, undermining the chance for peace and questions the right of Israel.” for self-defense.”
In his address to the “people of Israel”, Mr Harris said: “Ireland is resolute and unequivocal in recognizing the State of Israel and Israel’s right to exist securely and at peace with its neighbours.”
“Let me be clear: Ireland condemns the barbaric massacre committed by Hamas on October 7 last,” he said.
Mr. Harris called for the release of hostages taken by Hamas “into the arms of their loved ones,” but added that “Hamas is not the Palestinian people.”
“A two-state solution is the only way out of the generational cycles of violence, retaliation and resentment,” he said.
Tánaiste Micheál Martin said Ireland’s decision was a “clear and unalterable declaration of our deeply held belief that there can be no peace in the Middle East until both the Israeli and Palestinian peoples enjoy the same rights to self-determination, statehood, peace, safety and dignity”.
He added that the move was not a “hostile act against the State of Israel.”
“We recognize the heartbreak, loss and fear of the Israeli people,” he said.
Green Party leader Eamon Ryan said Ireland has “learned the hard way that violence against innocent civilians to achieve political goals cannot and should never win.”
“Whether that’s a car bomb on the streets of Omagh or Jerusalem, whether it’s a rocket landing in Tel Aviv, or an unexpected explosion in a pub in Birmingham, whether it’s an attack on the kibbutz, or a bomb falling out of a fighter jet into a refugee camp or a hospital in Gaza, it’s all wrong,” he said.
