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October 7th, 2014

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Following the Swedish government’s announcement that it will recognise Palestine as a state, Kristeligt Dagblad reports that a number of politicians and experts in Denmark believe that, in the long run, Denmark will follow suit.

Mette Gjerskov, the deputy chairperson of parliament’s foreign affairs committee, told the paper she didn’t expect this to happen immediately, but that she expected it in the coming years. “Of course the Swedish step means something,” she said.

Support for a two-state solution
“It’s not my impression that the government is ready to do something similar tomorrow. Palestine hasn’t been on the agenda in Denmark in the same way as it has in Sweden," she told Kristeligt Dagblad.

"But I feel that we’re in a development. Whereas we were previously very occupied with helping the Jewish people, today Israel is a state that can protect itself. Therefore it’s very natural that our attention moves in the direction of Palestinians who need protection,”

Holger K Nielsen, SF’s foreign affairs spokesman, has long been a proponent of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Liberal Alliance’s foreign affairs spokesperson, Mette Bock, is in agreement, but doesn’t believe the time is right for Denmark to make the move.

“We have been through a very contentious period with armed conflict,” she told Kristeligt Dagblad.

“Now a window has been opened for the parties finding a solution themselves. In respect for that process, we should wait to see what the parties arrive at.”

The Middle East expert Jakob Egholm Feldt, an academic at Roskilde University, told the paper that Denmark, like many other countries, had already given its de facto recognition of a two-state solution by virtue of Palestine having a seat at the UN and representation in Denmark.