ECI applauds decision by Nordic Prime Ministers not to follow Sweden
- Swedish recognition of Palestinian state violates Oslo Agreement
 
Stockholm, 28th October, 2014 - ECI applauds the decision of the Prime Ministers of Finland, Norway and Denmark to refrain from recognising a Palestinian state despite the decision of the Swedish Government to do so.  The annual session of the Nordic Council began in Stockholm on Monday, and on Tuesday ECI hosted a breakfast meeting for delegates of the Nordic Council. At the meeting, Founding Director Tomas Sandell urged the Nordic governments to respect international law by not supporting a Palestinian state.

 
In the meeting, which took place in the Swedish Parliament, the ECI director indicated how Stockholm's recognition of a Palestinian state could nullify the Oslo Agreement which clearly states that "all outstanding issues should be decided through negotiations."

'Unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state violates both the spirit and the letter of the Oslo Agreement', Sandell said in a statement in Stockholm on Tuesday. He went on to say that the Swedish Government should stand up for the rule of law and not for lawlessness.

'Isis and Hamas are two expressions of the same Jihadist ideology which is currently threatening to drive the whole Middle East region into an abyss. One cannot condemn one (Isis) and embrace the other (Hamas). By recognising a Palestinian state which is co-governed by the terrorist group Hamas, which has sworn never to recognise a Jewish state, and uses its own civilians as human shields, Sweden is undermining respect for international law and human rights, while at the same time weakening Israel, the only democratic state in the region.
 
'The democratic instinct should be to stand up for the weak and the oppressed. Today Christians and other religious minorities are being slaughtered in Iraq and Syria by Jihadist forces which are similar to Hamas who rule Gaza. Only in one country in the region, Israel, can Christians and other religious minorities live in peace and security.
 
'It is not in the interest of the international community, nor in the interest of the Palestinian people, to create another repressive Islamic state in the Middle East, with no respect for fundamental freedoms and human rights. The Swedish Government is contradicting itself by catapulting a Hamas co-ruled Palestinian authority into statehood, while neglecting to support those who are facing a genocide under the same Jihadist movement.'
 
The breakfast meeting was co-hosted by MP Roland Utbult and MP Mikael Oscarssonfrom the Swedish Parliament.
 
European Coalition for Israel