Majority of the European countries maintain cordial ties with Israel as they still bear the historical burden of creating a separate state for the Jews. Meanwhile, Holocaust has become an event of the past, and Israel continues to (illegally) occupy the Palestinian territories. Perhaps, the Europeans have started realising the imperialist mentality of Israel and also their past mistake in such a scenario.

Three European countries – Spain, Ireland and Norway – have decided to recognise Palestine as an Independent State! After holding talks with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón in the first week of April 2024, Prime Ministers of Ireland and Norway announced that they would also recognise Palestine as a State. Al Jazeera quoted Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez as saying that Madrid would recognise Palestine as soon as possible. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and his Irish counterpart Simon Harris also confirmed that their countries, too, were ready to do the same.

It may be noted that Malta and Slovenia had made a similar announcement a couple of months ago. Later, Prime Ministers of these two countries discussed the issue with their counterparts from Spain, Ireland and Norway. Political analysts are of the opinion that the genocide carried out by Israel in the Gaza Strip has prompted some countries in Europe to show solidarity with the Palestinians. They believe that some other countries would back the Palestinian cause in the coming years, making it easier for Palestine to emerge as an Independent State. Such a scenario would also bring the Arab World closer to Europe.

In a separate development, Greece has reopened the historical Yeni Cami (The New) Mosque in Thessaloniki after a century. AP reported that April 3 (2024) “marked the first time since the 1920s that the building, originally built for a community of Jewish converts to Islam at a time when the city of Thessaloniki was a cultural melting pot within the Ottoman Empire, was being used for mass prayers during Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday at the end of the month-long fasting period of Ramadan“.

The mosque has remained closed since the 20th Century in the Orthodox Christian majority country. The concerned authorities in Greece recently changed their minds. This unique Ottoman architecture was used as a shelter, as well as a museum, in the past. A local resident said that there was no distinction between Muslims and common citizens in the southeastern European country with thousands of islands throughout the Aegean and Ionian Seas. “This is a beautiful thing, it is the first time we feel this, we did not even know this mosque existed,” said Ismael Bedredin, a follower of Islam who was among about 70 worshipers at the morning prayers on April 3. He told AP: “Even though I have been living here for 63 years, it is the first time I see it… We were told it is opening its gates for the first time in 100 years, and that is an exceptionally beautiful thing.”

During the Ottoman rule, the mosque was built mainly for the people of the Donmeh community (Jewish converted to Islam). The Donmeh people were caught up in the 1923 forcible population exchange between Greece and Turkey, when Muslims living in Greece were sent to Turkey in exchange for Orthodox Christians living in Turkey on the basis of a bilateral treaty. Thereafter, the concerned authorities in Greece refused to allow the followers of Islam to offer prayer at this mosque.

One can find a glimpse of Islamic craftsmanship in the architecture of the Yeni Cami Mosque, built by Italian architect Vitaliano Poselli in 1902. Only 2% of the Greek population are Muslims. Unfortunately, there was no mosque for them in Greece till 2020! In Athens, Muslims had to rely on informal prayer rooms until 2020, when the city’s first state-sponsored mosque began operating.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das