Belgium moves toward recognizing a Palestinian state, drawing Israeli
rebuke
[September 02, 2025]
By SAM McNEIL
BRUSSELS (AP) — Belgium will move toward recognizing a Palestinian
state, the country's foreign minister said Tuesday, joining a growing
list of countries preparing to take the step as Israel steps up its
offensive in Gaza.
Maxime Prévot said Belgium's plans to recognize a Palestinian state will
be announced at the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 9.
However, the acknowledgment is predicated on two conditions — the return
of all Israeli hostages held in Gaza and the removal of Hamas from
political power in the coastal exclave. The conditions make it unlikely
the recognition will be formalized anytime soon.
The announcement marks the latest sign of international support for a
Palestinian state, and would add Belgium to a list of more than 140
countries to recognize Palestinian statehood, including more than a
dozen in Europe.
Prévot on Tuesday also announced plans to ban goods coming from Israeli
settlements in the West Bank and designate Hamas leaders, violent
settlers, and two far-right Israeli ministers as persona non grata.
“This is not about sanctioning the Israeli people but about ensuring
that their government respects international and humanitarian law and
taking action to try to change the situation on the ground,” Prévot said
on social platform X.
Prévot said the European Union should increase more pressure on Israel
by suspending ties with the country, including its trade pact known as
the Association Agreement.
Israel’s war in Gaza has stressed ties within the bloc’s 27 nations,
ignited protests across the continent, and frayed political coalitions
including in Belgium and its neighbor the Netherlands. But despite
growing political tension, Israel’s deep ties with European military,
business and academic institutions remain largely intact.
Belgium's announcement sparked fury from Israel's far-right national
security minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who, along with finance minister
Bezalel Smotrich, is a likely target of the new sanctions.
[to top of second column]
|
A makeshift tent camp for displaced Palestinians stretches across an
area near the Gaza City port, Monday, Sept. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad
Alshrafi)
“The self-righteous European countries that are being manipulated by
Hamas — at the end they’ll discover terrorism on their own flesh,” Ben
Gvir said in a statement to The Associated Press.
France and the United Kingdom have both announced plans to recognize
Palestine, putting added diplomatic pressure on Israel.
Australia, Canada and the European countries moving toward statehood
recognition have predicated the step on the Palestinian Authority making
reforms. But the body is deeply unpopular among Palestinians and is seen
as corrupt and incapable of governing effectively. Israel has opposed
granting it a larger role in postwar Gaza.
The Palestinians seek an independent state in the occupied West Bank,
annexed east Jerusalem and Gaza, territories Israel occupied in the 1967
Mideast war.
Israel’s government and most of its political class have long opposed
Palestinian statehood and now say it would reward militants after Hamas’
Oct. 7 attack.
—-
Melanie Lidman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved
 |
