MidEast

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Israel Recalls Ambassador from Sweden in Response to Government’s Recognition Move

On ‘Thursday, Israel responded to the Swedish government’s recognition of Palestine by withdrawing its ambassador from the Scandinavian country.

The Jerusalem Post reports:

Sweden became the first major western country to recognize a Palestinian state on Thursday, triggering a sharp response from Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman who recalled Israel ambassador to Sweden Isaac Bachman to Jerusalem for consultations to protest Sweden’s recognition Thursday of “Palestine.” Sweden is the first major western country to do so. …

Liberman said the only chance at reaching an agreement was through negotiations, and that these types of moves strengthen the unrealistic Palestinian demands and serve to push any agreement further away.

After stating his support for bilateral negotiations, which has long been considered an essential mechanism for achieving peace, Liberman lamented, “It is unfortunate … that the Swedish government chose to adopt a declarative measure that can cause much damage and bring no benefit.”

Getting individual nations to recognize Palestine has been a tactic adopted by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas—termed the Palestine 194 plan by Jonathan Schanzer of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies—to achieve independence by bypassing negotiations with Israel.

In recent weeks, Palestinian leaders have been engaged in increasingly heated anti-Israel rhetoric.

Earlier this week a number of dignitaries from the  Friends of Israel Initiative published an op-ed in The Times of London calling European efforts to support Palestinian statehood “inappropriate, counterproductive and unwarranted.”