It is time for Europe to recognize Palestine.

Three European nations announced Wednesday they will formally recognize a Palestinian state, a landmark move that caused retaliatory action from Israel and praise from Palestinians. The announcements from Ireland, Norway and Spain dealt the latest diplomatic blow to Israel, as the United States' close ally faces mounting international isolation and backlash over its deadly military offensive in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli Government, immediately recalled Israel's ambassadors to Oslo, Dublin and Madrid and ordered a formal reprimand, to the three countries' envoys in Israel.

While the rest of our continent is still divided on what step it should follow after such developments, it is clear that the time for a unilateral recognition of the Palestinian state by Europe, is indeed the only way forward. Thus, more EU nations should follow Ireland's, Norway's and Spain's example and soon. This should not come as punishment towards Israel, rather a realistic approach that these two ethnic groups, can no longer coexist under any form of one government or any other arrangement that has been previously tried and applied in the region; not after such a horrendous death toll and attrocities committed.

There is no sense of pointing fingers or shifting the blame, both sides have over the years had a fair share of mistakes and either of them had governments or leaders that were too hardline and headstrong, for this conflict to be permanently resolved. And the West's involvement is actually questionable if it was ever constructive or helpful.

Europeans are divided between the Centre-Right, which traditionally always sides with Israel, while the continent's Left-Wing has always been more pro-Palestinian. Hence their differences and squabbles, are applied to this ongoing dispute for decades. In addition, different countries bring their national complexes into the debate; Ireland is always siding with the "underdog" in every conflict, perhaps because they are indentifying with them as result of their own struggles against a bigger power, the British Empire.

Germany on the other hand, has always been reluctant to go against Israel, partially due to their national "guilt and shame" of their past actions against Europe's Jewish population. It is no wonder then, why the EU is so divided over the matter and why the block cannot be trusted to have a decisive role in resolving this war, by taking sides or being the negotiator.

If we add to the mix America's role, which blindly supports Israel, funds and arms the country, plus convinces Europe and all the Western allies to stand behind Israel, even though most of the rest of the world has already recognized Palestine as a state, it is evident that we are part of the problem; for decades. How can we end a conflict, when there are so many interests involved, like those of Western arms industries or countries acting like big "powers" for example?

I have visited both nations, funny enough only months before the war errupted, and the region made a lasting impression to me; it is one of the most fascinating, culturally rich and beautiful that I have ever visited. It pained me to see the division, inequality and conflict among its peoples. However all tour guides that I have spoken to (perhaps because they did not want to put any tourists off, or because they wanted to show themselves as friendly, open minded and peaceful) from both sides, expressed the desire to live in peace, the compassion about the other side, plus the acknowledgement that some times, their own leadership was on the wrong.

In fact, I truly believe, if we left it to the ordinary people and not the politicians or foreign powers, this conflict could already have been resolved. However, we cannot go back and change things, this dispute is not new. In fact it has been under way since the British Colonial era and the way the former overlords of this region, abandoned the Jewish people to fend for themselves in a hostile region, only because Europeans did not accept their continent's Jewish population and because the Western powers needed a "foot" in the Middle East. Thus they created the Cyrpus and the Palestinian ongoing conflicts, with the only aim to have a say in the region, never mind the wishes or rights of the native peoples.

We could learn from our collective mistakes and move forward, or we can continue arguing about matters that not only we created, but we should not have a say in the first place. This conlfict must end, if we want the killings on both sides to end and the only way to achieve this, is to do something we did not before, which in fact is the right thing; recognise Palestine as a state and allow it to join the international community. Only if these people prosper, their youths will have a future and won't be susceptible to join organizations like Hamas.

Israel must accept this, that with violence and killings- especially the kind we have so passively whitnessed the past few months, this war will never end and there will be more blood spilled from both sides in the future. The kids that are orphaned or traumatized now, due to this operation against Hamas, will be the coming soldiers of this terrorist organization or any other new that will spring out in the future, if the Israelis are successful in destroying Hamas. The Arabs on the other hand must forever accept that Israel is there to stay, as long as both sides respect the borders drawn and agreed upon. Europe and the rest of the world, will clearly always support Israel in its fight for existence, but we cannot stand by and watch the carnage any longer.

We as Europeans must stop being so hypocrites and cry plus condemn Israel or Hamas over the killings, but fail to do what it must be done, thus we continue to watch passively in the coming years, as more children being bombed and killed, more people dying from attacks and rockets. It is done; the established solution we opted for so far has flaws, it has failed and it cannot continue. Ireland, Norway and Spain, thankfully have shown the way forward.

And this must not be seen as an appeasement or atonement of Hamas and the crimes that they have committed. As the current Irish Taoiseach Simon Harrris recently stated, after Ireland's recognition of the Palestinian State: "Let me also be clear that Hamas is not the Palestinian people. Today’s decision to recognise Palestine is taken to help create a peaceful future. A two-state solution is the only way out of the generational cycles of violence, retaliation and resentment, where so many wrongs can never make a right.Just as Ireland's recognition as a state eventually led to the establishment of our peaceful Republic, we believe that Palestinian statehood will contribute to peace and to reconciliation in the Middle East.

Come on Europe, it is time.....