When the Swedish foreign minister promised weeks ago that his country would recognize the State of Palestine, we weren’t sure that Sweden would do so given the tremendous amount of pressure such a decision would face from the European Union, the United States and the social and political forces that are tied to Israel.
But Sweden did it. They have now formally recognized the state of Palestine. This could be the beginning of a historic change to be followed by similar moves across Europe to halt for the first time Israel’s plan to eliminate the legitimate existence of the Palestinian people and their dream of re-establishing a country of their own, one stolen from them so many years ago.
Sweden does not have substantial interests in common with Arab countries. It is a state in Western Europe that has least benefited from the Arabs. There is no Arab country present in its top 10 trade partners. Sweden is not home to an influential Arab community. Moreover, it does not need anyone’s help. Its population is one-third of the population of Saudi Arabia, yet its budget is as big as the Saudi budget. This is why we are impressed by its great moral and humane stance and we tell the Swedes: thank you for your moral courage, as a government and as a people.
This gives us here at this newsroom some hope for the future of mankind.
