Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Luc Frieden said that the recognition of the Palestinian state would represent a vital step to keep the Middle East peace process alive ahead of his country’s move to take this step, according to Al-Arabiya.
“I would like the Israeli and Palestinian peoples to keep hope alive that one day they will be able to live in peace,” Frieden said in an interview.
The Luxembourg Grand Duchy is among a group of countries including Canada, France, Britain, Australia, Belgium, and Malta that plan to recognize Palestine as a state at UN summit in New York on September 22.
The PM also added that the recognition will be “a key moment in this process… an important step in a long march towards peace and stability in the region.”
Set to begin on next Monday, UN meetings on the future of the Israeli and Palestinian two-state solution will be co-chaired by both Saudi Arabia and France.
Moreover, Luxembourg backs proposed EU sanctions against Israel including restrictions on trade ties.
“If they don’t listen to us, unfortunately we will have to move towards sanctions,” he said of Netanyahu’s government.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared that “there will be no Palestinian state,” with his government insisting that recognizing Palestinian statehood would undermine regional stability and greatly reward Hamas.
Notably, 147 countries out of the United Nations’ 193 member states recognize the Palestinian state. However, none of the Group of Seven major economies had taken that step until now.
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