Sweden’s new prime minister has announced that the country will recognize a Palestinian state, even as the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) hails such move. Sweden is the first European Union (EU) member in Western Europe to so recognize Palestine.

Left-wing Social Democrat leader, Stefan Loefven, who won last month’s general election said that the Nordic country wanted to bolster a “two-state solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Washington reacted quickly, describing Stockholm’s recognition of Palestinia as “premature,” while Palestinians cheered the decision as “courageous” and urged the rest of the European Union to follow suit.

“A two-state solution requires mutual recognition and the will to co-exist peacefully,” Loefven said in his inaugural address to parliament.

This should take place with respect for the “legitimate demands of the Palestinians and the Israelis as regards their right to self-determination and security.”

Seven EU members in eastern European and the Mediterranean have already recognized a “Palestinian state.” They are Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Malta, Poland and Romania. Non-EU member Iceland is the only other western European nation to have done so.

But the United States cautioned against Sweden joining them.

“We believe international recognition of a Palestinian state is premature,” State Department spokeswoman, Jen Psaki told reporters.

“We certainly support Palestinian statehood, but it can only come through a negotiated outcome, a resolution of final status issues and mutual recognitions by both parties.”

Israelis and the Palestinians, Psaki said, must be the ones “to agree on the terms on how they live in the future two states, living side-by-side.”

Sweden’s new foreign minister, Margot Wallstroem told public broadcaster SR that Sweden was “in good company since 130 countries in the world have already done the same”.

At least, 112 countries have recognized the Palestinian Authority as a “Palestinian state,” according to an AFP count, although a PA estimate puts the number at 134.

Wallstroem said that a recognition would be “an important signal facilitating… a two-state solution”.

Senior Palestinian Authority negotiator, Saeb Erakat said the rest of the EU should follow Sweden’s example.

“We hope that all countries of the European Union will take the same courageous and remarkable decision… as there is no reason not to recognize the Palestinian state,” he said in Ramallah.

Loefven’s Social Democratic-Green Party coalition – which formed a minority government on Friday – is more supportive of demands for a Palestinian Arab state than Sweden’s previous center-right administration.

The Social Democrats, the largest party in the Swedish parliament, wrote in their election manifesto that “Israel’s war crimes must be investigated and the occupation of Gaza lifted”.

The party added that “Sweden and the rest of the world must actively support its (Palestine’s) work towards reconciliation”.

The prime minister did not specify whether the policy would be put to a vote in parliament.

The PA envoy to Sweden, Hala Husni Fariz, said in a statement that the decision “reflects the historical support of the Swedish government for freedom, dignity and human rights”.

Sweden voted in favor of Palestinian observer status at the United Nations in 2012, which was granted despite opposition from the United States and other countries.

The Swedish announcement coincided with the start of the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, the “Day of Atonement”, and an Israeli government spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

The PLO said: “the Swedish announcement recognizing Palestinia, is in fact, a sign of a genuine commitment to justice and the requirements for peace, including the two-state solution on the 1967 boundaries,” said PLO Executive Committee Member Dr. Hanan Ashrawi.

“We hope that other countries in Europe will follow Sweden’s lead. Those who claim to support the two-state solution must realize that in order to reach it, what’s missing is a sovereign Palestinian state,” she said.

According to the PLO 138 countries recognize Palestine as a state, including Brazil, South Africa, Chile, Russia, the Holy See, Argentina, India and China among others.

But it has failed to gain major recognition in the West, with the European Union and the US preferring to the conflict resolved through negotiation. [myad]

Bangladesh government has sacked a top minister the country’s telecommunications minister, Abdul Latif Siddique, for describing Muslim Hajj as a waste of manpower.

The minister said: “Hajj is a waste of manpower. Those who perform Hajj do not have any productivity. They deduct from the economy, spend a lot of money abroad.”

The comments of the sacked minister triggered protests by Islamists who declared him an apostate. They set a 24-hour deadline to replace him. The minister made the remarks in New York where he accompanying Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

He was quoted by local radio station as saying: “I am dead against Hajj and Tablighi Jamaat. Two million people have gone to Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj.”

The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party has urged the government to bring Siddique to justice for his “derogatory” comments, the Daily Starnewspaper reported.

“Unless Latif is brought to justice, the people’s wrath cannot be tamed,” senior BNP leader and spokesman, General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir was quoted as saying by the English language newspaper.

A senior government official said that Siddique would be removed but he did not comment whether it was linked to demand by the Islamists.

“The decision has been taken to remove him from the Cabinet,” the official from the Prime Minister’s Office said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The Daily Star also confirmed the sacking in its report published on its website.

He also criticised the non-political Islamic group, Tablighi Jamaat, millions of whose followers congregate outside the Bangladeshi capital each year in what authorities called the second largest Muslim gathering after the Hajj.

Siddique was also quoted as saying that about two million people who gathered “don’t do any work except halting traffic movement throughout the country.”

There was no comment from the Tablighi Jamaat. [myad]