The Estonian head of state made his remarks at a meeting in Kultaranta, Finland, where he was joined by his Finnish and Latvian counterparts.

President Karis said: "Estonia's official position is a two-state solution, and we haven't recognized Palestine as a separate country. And my personal opinion is that there are quite a number of states who have recognized Palestine as a country, but what doesn't exist is a country."

At the invitation of my good friend, Finnish President @alexstubb, we visited Kultaranta today with Latvian President @edgarsrinkevics. We discussed Europe's security, transatlantic ties & the Middle East. #Security #Transatlantic #MiddleEast #Kultaranta pic.twitter.com/OuHxKHJD2V

— Alar Karis (@AlarKaris) June 16, 2025

Finland's President Alexander Stubb said: "We want a ceasefire, we want the killing to stop, and then after that we want to get into a negotiating pattern. It's difficult to say whether that'll take place within one - two days, or is this attack going to last longer than a week. So a very complicated situation would be my summary."

Latvia's president, Edgars Rinkēvičs, said: "My own country has always belonged to those who have been saying that we need to find a way how to be more efficient, to bring all together, and we have always seen that at the end of the day we still have different voting in UN General Assembly, different statements, recognition policy and so on."

In September last year, Estonia voted in favor of a UN resolution condemning Israel's occupation — marking a departure from the more usual alignment with the U.S. or EU — though the foreign ministry denied any policy shift, insisting the decision reflected Estonia's own interests.

The two-state solution envisions Israel and a sovereign Palestinian state coexisting with mutual recognition, aiming for negotiated peace. Proposed since the 1947 UN partition plan, it faces challenges like mistrust, settlements, and factional divisions, with Hamas and Iran opposing it.

In June 2025, Israel and Iran's conflict escalated with Israeli strikes on Iranian military sites and nuclear facilities, prompting deadly Iranian retaliation. Meanwhile, fighting in Gaza continues following the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel and the latter's responses, with heavy Israeli military operations and a worsening humanitarian crisis widely reported.

--

Follow ERR News on Facebook, Bluesky and X and never miss an update!