Israel has reacted angrily at last week's announcement by the new Swedish government to recognize a Palestinian state.
Aviv Shir-On, deputy director-general for Western Europe in the Israeli Foreign Minister, met with Carl Magnus Nesser, the Swedish ambassador to Israel, on Monday.
Sweden is set to become the first major European country to officially recognize Palestinian statehood.
According to 'Haaretz', Shir-On made it clear to the ambassador that such a declaration not only served to damage Israeli-Palestinian relations but also reduced the chance of reaching a peace agreement because it would raise false expectations among Palestinians to achieve their goal unilaterally rather than through negotiations with Israel.
Shir-On also told the ambassador that there is a crisis in the Middle East, and at a time when many countries in the region were facing bitter battles and daily atrocities, the decision of Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven to focus on the Palestinian issue was hard to comprehend.
Lövfen said on Sunday that Sweden was not backing down from its decision in a phone conversation he had with Israeli Labor Party leader Isaac Herzog. The Social Democrat reiterated that his country was set to officially recognize a Palestinian state, but clarified that a date for the actual recognition act had not yet been determined.
Philip Carmel from the European Jewish Congress told the Swedish news website 'The Local': "This is a token move by Sweden's new government and it is ironic that Sweden recognizes a Palestinian state at a time when even Palestinians can't agree on what its borders will be. A key principle of the European Union is to recognize future states based on negotiations and it is very sad that Sweden appears to have cast these negotiations aside and wants to label Palestine as a state before any formal agreement on its borders."
Meanwhile, the Palestinians welcomed the endorsement. “Sweden’s position is commendable and honorable,” Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said, according to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA. “The issue of recognizing the Palestinian state is under consideration in many countries around the world, especially in Europe, and we hope these nations follow Sweden’s example,” Abbas said.
