In a joint press conference held in Jerusalem on Sunday, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen affirmed that Copenhagen is not prepared to recognize a Palestinian state, citing a range of preconditions that must be met before such recognition could be considered.
“We are not ready yet to recognize, but our position is that we cannot allow anyone to have a de facto veto over the Danish position,” Rasmussen stated alongside Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, as quoted by JNS.
Rasmussen emphasized that Denmark’s centrist government would only support recognition following a negotiated two-state solution.
“We are ready to recognize when there’s a negotiated two-state solution,” he said, adding that Denmark would never recognize a Palestinian state governed by Hamas “or any other terrorist organization.”
The Danish diplomat outlined strict conditions for recognition: “It comes with a lot of preconditions - a disarmed Palestinian state, recognizing Israel, transparency, democracy - you can’t run for elections if you don’t recognize the sovereignty of Israel.”
Rasmussen expressed hope for future cooperation: “I really hope that we, in the foreseeable future, can start working together in achieving this, and make this vision more clear for people in Israel, Palestine and across the world.”
His comments follow announcements by several countries of their intent to recognize a Palestinian state.
France is planning to officially recognize a Palestinian state during the UN General Assembly later this month, and has been joined by Britain, Canada and Belgium.
Sa’ar on Sunday criticized European support for Palestinian statehood, stating, “Those states that support statehood for the Palestinians now ignore the most important fact: they demonstrate that the PA - according to what they do - they don’t deserve a state.”
Sa’ar accused the Palestinian Authority of violating its commitments under the Oslo Accords. “They have never done that,” he said, referring to the promise to fight terrorism. “They reward and encourage terrorism by the pay-for-slay doctrine, by paying salaries for terrorists and terrorists’ families,” he added, urging Rasmussen not to “ignore this reality.”
“In Judea and Samaria and in [the] Gaza Strip, demanding for Israel to risk its future and security; we will simply not do that,” Sa’ar concluded.