Quote:Sweden officially recognises state of Palestine

Sweden becomes first EU member in western Europe to make controversial move, saying we hope this will show the way for others'

• Agence France-Presse in Stockholm
  
• The Guardian, Thursday 30 October 2014 09.16 GMT
  

Palestinians with the Palestinian flag in the Gaza Strip. Sweden joins seven EU members in eastern Europe and the Mediterranean in recognising the Palestinian state. Photograph: Abed Rahim Khatib/NurPhoto/Corbis

Sweden has officially recognised the state of Palestine, Stockholm's foreign minister said, less than a month after the government announced its intention to make the controversial move.
"Today the government takes the decision to recognise the state of Palestine," foreign minister Margot Wallstrom said in a statement published in the Dagens Nyheter newspaper on Thursday.
"It is an important step that confirms the Palestinians' right to self-determination," she said, adding that "we hope that this will show the way for others".
Sweden's new prime minister, Stefan Löfven, announced in his inaugural address to parliament in early October that his country would become the first EU member in western Europe to recognise a Palestinian state.
While the Palestinians cheered the move, Israel summoned Sweden's ambassador to protest and express disappointment.
Israel has long insisted that the Palestinians can only receive their promised state through direct negotiations and not through other diplomatic channels.
Seven EU members in eastern European and the Mediterranean have already recognised a Palestinian state Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Malta, Poland and Romania. Non-EU member Iceland is the only other western European nation to have done so.
The United States cautioned Sweden against recognition, calling it "premature" and saying the Palestinian state could only come through a negotiated solution between Israelis and Palestinians.
In Thursday's announcement, Sweden's foreign minister said "the government considers that international law criteria for recognition of a Palestinian state have been fulfilled".
A spokesman for Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas welcomed the decision, describing it as "brave and historic".
"All countries of the world that are still hesitant to recognise our right to an independent Palestinian state based on 1967 borders, with east Jerusalem as its capital, [should] follow Sweden's lead," his spokesman quoted him as saying.

Magda Hassan Wrote:Good. About time.