Belgium to Recognise Palestinian State, Impose Sanctions on Israel

Brussels (Quds News Network)- Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot has announced his country will recognise a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly later this month, and is imposing “firm sanctions” on Israel over the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

“Palestine will be recognised by Belgium at the UN session! And firm sanctions will be imposed against the Israeli government,” Prevot, who is also the deputy prime minister, wrote on X on Tuesday.
Israel will face 12 sanctions from Belgium, Prevot said.

The sanctions included a ban on the import of products from illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, “a review of public procurement policies with Israeli companies” and the designation of two Israeli government ministers and “several violent settlers” as persona non grata in Belgium.

Prevot, a member of Belgium’s centrist Christian Democrat party, said Belgium was making the pledge “in light of the humanitarian tragedy unfolding in Palestine, particularly in Gaza”.

France and Saudi Arabia will co-host the meeting on Palestinian recognition during the UNGA on September 22. At the end of July, President Emmanuel Macron announced that France would recognise Palestinian statehood when world leaders meet for the UNGA.

Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom have also said they plan to recognise Palestine this month.

As of April this year, some 147 countries, representing 75 percent of UN members, had already recognised Palestinian statehood.

The recognition decisions come as Israel’s genocide in Gaza has killed over 60,000 Palestinians amid an ongoing blockade on aid entering the enclave.