Statement by the Tánaiste at joint press conference with Foreign Ministers of Spain and Norway

Ireland, Norway and Spain will formally recognise Palestine tomorrow.

This joint decision reflects the determination of our three countries to make a fundamental paradigm shift.

The international community, including the EU, has been talking about support for the two-state solution, based on 1967 borders, for decades.

But we are no nearer to actually getting to that desired end state.

And we firmly believe that, without changing our approach, we will never get there.

Some have framed our decision to recognise the State of Palestine as a move to impose an outcome on the parties, or as somehow a reward for terror.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

We have recognised both the State of Israel and the State of Palestine, precisely because we want to see a future of normalised relations between the two peoples.

One where negotiations, between two sovereign states on an equal footing, is the mechanism used to get to a just and lasting settlement, based on internationally-agreed parameters.

Where occupation and terrorism and dispossession and displacement have no role and are given no space, because they have been replaced by a political framework, in which the parties can pursue their political aims.

Where extremism is sidelined and moderate political voices, ready to make sensible political compromises that give their people a future of security and dignity, are supported.

There can be no military solution to this conflict.

I repudiate absolutely any group using violence or terrorism to try and eliminate the State of Israel, or to eliminate the State of Palestine - as an idea, or as a reality.

They will not succeed.

I condemn the violence of yesterday - the rocket strikes on Tel Aviv and the attack on the Rafah refugee camp last evening, where again, innocent civilians, including children, were killed. This again, is in violation of the International Court of Justice and its instruction to Israel to cease its bombardment of Rafah.

Our recognition of both States is an unequivocal message that only a future in which Palestinians and Israelis alike enjoy equal rights to self-determination, statehood, human rights and dignity, is acceptable and is sustainable.

It is also a decision firmly ensconced within the parameters of UN Security Council and General Assembly resolutions, and is explicitly one of multilateralism, not unilateralism.

Our three countries are now focused on how recognition can contribute to concrete and irreversible steps to vindicate the right to Palestinian self-determination, and to implement a two-state solution.

We had an excellent meeting last night, with over 40 European, Arab and other partners, discussing exactly this point.

We focused on building cross-regional cooperation, including on the principles underlying the Arab Peace Vision. We agreed on the need for an early end to the brutal war in Gaza, and clear steps towards the establishment of a Palestinian state.

I’m now going into the EU Foreign Affairs Council, where the Arab Contact Group will present their thinking in more detail. My view is that the EU needs to get fully behind a cross-regional plan.

The EU needs urgently to support the Palestinian Authority’s own reform plan, which I discussed with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa last night.

I believe this provides a pathway for effective governance by the PA, throughout Palestinian territory.

As responsible global players, Ireland, Norway and Spain, will always seek to promote diplomacy over violence, hope over despair, and cooperation over exclusion.

That is why all three of us have supported the Ukrainian Peace Plan, and it is also why we are supporting the Arab Peace Vision.

We will continue our engagement with all parties to this end.