Qatar’s Foreign Ministry remarked that this signals an “important step” towards regional peace and stability.

The Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) issued a statement welcoming Spain, Norway and Ireland’s Wednesday move to recognise the state of Palestine.

The statement, which was published via X on Wednesday, said that this stance marks an “important step to support the two-state solution and to achieve peace and stability in the region.”

MoFa also emphasized that “achieving comprehensive and just peace in the region depends on the establishment of an independent Palestinian State on 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.”

Norway and Ireland announced their formal recognition today, with Spain to follow with the same move on May 28, according to an address the prime minister gave to parliament on Wednesday.

“Today, Ireland, Norway, and Spain are announcing that we recognise the state of Palestine,” Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris said at a news conference. “Each of us will now undertake whatever national steps are necessary to give effect to that decision.”

“There cannot be peace in the Middle East if there is no recognition,” Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said during separate remarks.

Støre is further cited in a Norwegian government press release as saying that: “It also sends a strong message to other countries to follow the example of Norway and a number of other European countries and recognise the state of Palestine.”

This sentiment was echoed by the Qatari MoFA statement, which concluded by expressing hope that more countries will follow suit.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s announcement to formally recognise Palestinian statehood also cricitized Israel’s leader.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Netanyahu does not have a peace project for Palestine,” Sanchez said to the Spanish parliament.

The latest figures from the United Nations’ humanitarian office report that since October 7, Israel’s indiscriminate war, spearheaded by Netanyahu, has killed at least 35,562 Palestinians in Gaza.

At least 79,652 are also reported injured and 1.7 million Palestinians in the enclave have been displaced. Sanchez alluded to these woeful statistics as Netanyahu having generated “so much pain and resentment.”

The Spanish leader added that his country’s recognition of Palestine “is not the end, it’s only the beginning” of efforts to ensure lasting peace in the region.