Armenia recognises State of Palestine | International

Armenia, one of the countries with the deepest roots in the Holy Land, has become the 147th UN nation to recognise the State of Palestine. “We support the two-state principle for a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We are convinced that this is the only way to guarantee that both can realize their legitimate aspirations,” the Armenian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The move by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s government is filled with tremendous symbolism. Armenians own one of the four neighborhoods dividing the Old City of Jerusalem. Of the Christian confession, but with its patriarchate, it shares a neighborhood with Jewish, Muslim and Christian neighborhoods – where the city’s headquarters and some of the holy places of the Catholic and Orthodox communities are located.

While recognizing the State of Palestine, the Armenian Executive warned, “The catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza and the ongoing military conflict remain among the main issues on the international political agenda that require a solution.”

Armenia’s decision has been met with criticism from both the Israeli armed forces and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas. Pashinyan government has stressed, “Armenia categorically rejects attacks on civilian infrastructure, violence against the civilian population and the taking of hostages, and joins the demands of the international community for their release without any preconditions.”

The current escalation of the war in the Middle East began on October 7, when Hamas launched attacks from the Gaza Strip that killed more than 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped more than 200. Israel responded with a ground offensive and massive bombing against Gaza, which has killed more than 37,000 Palestinians so far, according to information from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry.

“Taking this as a basis and reaffirming our commitment to international law and the principles of equality, sovereignty and peaceful coexistence of peoples, the Republic of Armenia recognises the State of Palestine,” the government statement said.

Since 2020, Armenia has waged another open war with Azerbaijan for territorial control of the Nagorno Karabakh region, populated by Armenians but internationally recognized as Azeri territory. After two offensives – in 2020 and 2023 – in which the international community stayed on the sidelines and Russia acted as mediator despite being Armenia’s ally in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Azerbaijan – with the help of Israeli weapons – definitively conquered the disputed territory last year.

Armenia thus follows in the footsteps of Spain, Norway, Ireland and Slovenia, which also recognised Palestine between May and early June. In total, ten EU members have taken this step since 1988, the year the Palestine Liberation Organisation unilaterally declared the territory’s independence. A 1947 UN plan contemplated the creation of two states, Palestinian and Jewish, following British colonisation of the Middle East after World War II.

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