Spanish minister announces that he will recognize the State of Palestine | Palestine

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares Bueno, said this Wednesday that Spain would soon recognize the State of Palestine, according to Reuters, after the day before several Spanish newspapers cited informal comments by the head of Government, Pedro Sánchez , saying that this recognition would be done before the summer.

According to the Spanish daily El PaísSpain will also support Palestine’s accession as a full member of the United Nations, a proposal that will be made this month by Malta, which currently holds the presidency of the Security Council.

The Palestinian authorities decided more than a decade ago that they would embark on a path of international recognition of a state, making a request for membership as a full member in 2011. Israel opposes unilateral actions, officially arguing that the State should be created after direct negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis – although in the meantime Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that he was proud to have avoided the creation of a Palestinian State.

In 2012, Palestine obtained status at the United Nations equal to that of the Vatican, that is, an observer state. But the Palestinian authorities insisted this week on full status, with the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations, Riyad Mansur, this week making a request to the Security Council to analyze the Palestinian claim this month.

State recognition has no effect on the ground, but, in addition to being symbolic, it allows Palestine to be a member of international institutions, including, for example, signing the Rome Statute that created the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has already happened after having the status of observer state.

In addition to Spain and Malta, Slovenia and Ireland announced last week that they were willing to recognize the State of Palestine, also insisting on an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

Recognition of Palestine as an independent state was made by 139 of 193 members of the United Nations, according to accounts by United States public radio NPR in March, although outside are countries such as Israel’s close allies the USA and Germany and the United Kingdom, Italy and France, for example, who argue that recognition of the Palestinian State should only happen after negotiations with the State of Israel.

In the USA, the site American Axios reported in January that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had asked the State Department to present policy options for potential recognition of the State of Palestine after the end of the war in Gaza, something that would be a major turning point in the American policy towards the conflict.

And in February, the Washington Post reported that the United States and several Arab countries wanted to quickly present a plan for peace between Israel and Palestine that would include a timetable for the creation of a Palestinian State. The idea was immediately rejected by Israel, which declared that this would be “a reward for terrorism”.

From the United Kingdom, Foreign Minister David Cameron himself said that his Government was considering recognizing the Palestinian State as part of concerted efforts towards an “irreversible” peace agreement. Recognition did not necessarily need to be made at the beginning of a negotiation process, but it also did not have to be left until the end, said Cameron.

In Portugal, the Assembly of the Republic recommended, in December last year, to the Government to recognize the Palestinian State, after having also approved the recognition of Palestine in 2014 “in coordination with the European Union”.

In the debate last December, the executive led by António Costa’s Socialist Party declared itself in favor of this step, but argued that recognition should be done together with more countries, and did not achieve it. The PSD agreed with the PS’s assessment.