Iceland Recognizes Palestine as a State

It has been three months since the Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas brought his bid for statehood to the U.N., a move the U.S. strongly rejected. But despite the setback this week during a ceremony Iceland's Foreign Minister, Ossur Skarphedinsson, officially informed his Palestinian counterpart, Riyadh Al Maliki, that Iceland officially recognized Palestine as a state within the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital. 

Icelandic parliament passed a measure without objections to recognize the state of Palestine. The vote passed with 38 votes in favor and 13 abstaining. Al Maliki cheered the resolution and proclaimed it conveys great importance to the Palestinians, and that this step will encourage other countries to do the same. The chairman of the opposition however, stated “Icelanders do not have sufficient knowledge of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to get involved. The opposition also maintains that the dispute should be resolved through bilateral negotiations.” Iceland’s Foreign Minister Össur Skarphéðinsson said in a UN address that it would be foolish to deny Palestine rights in the middle of the democratic revolution brought on by the Arab Spring.

There are more than 100 countries around the world that have recognized Palestine as a state. Which include Uruguay, Ecuador, Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, Chile and Peru.

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