Finland joins declaration on peaceful Israeli-Palestinian two-state solution

Finland is joining a declaration on a peaceful resolution of the Palestinian question and implementation of a two-state solution, the Nordic country says in a statement.

Unlike some other European nations, such as Spain and Norway, Finland has not recognized Palestine as a state. Several other Western Ccountries, including France, have pledged to recognize a Palestinian state this month at the United Nations General Assembly. The Finnish coalition government is internally divided over a formal recognition.

Today’s declaration follows an international conference at the UN in July hosted by Saudi Arabia and France on the decades-long conflict. Israel’s government opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state, and it and the United States boycotted the event.

“The process led by France and Saudi Arabia is the most significant international effort in years to create the conditions for a two-state solution,” Finland’s foreign minister Elina Valtonen says on X.

The first step outlined in the declaration is to end the nearly two-year-long war between Israel and the Hamas terror group in Gaza.

Saudi Arabia and France have called on countries at the United Nations to support the declaration that outlines “tangible, timebound, and irreversible steps” towards implementing a two-state solution.