Next Tuesday, the Slovenian Parliament will vote on officially recognizing the State of Palestine after Spain, Ireland and Norway took this step, according to what Parliament Speaker Orska Klakokar Zupancic announced.
She explained during a press conference in Ljubljana, on Thursday, “The session is scheduled to be held on Tuesday, starting at 16:00 (14:00 GMT).”
Immediately after this announcement, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said that the Slovenian government’s decision regarding a Palestinian state “rewards Hamas for its crimes of murder and rape and strengthens the Iranian axis.”
He added: “I hope that the Slovenian Parliament will reject this recommendation.”
On Tuesday, Spain, Ireland, and Norway officially recognized the State of Palestine, in a decision that they confirmed aims to advance peace in the Middle East, despite angering Israel since the heads of government of the three European countries announced, last Wednesday, their decision, which took effect.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in a brief announcement in Spanish and English on Tuesday that recognition of the State of Palestine is “a necessity to achieve peace” in addition to being a “historical issue” for the Palestinian people.
He added that this decision “was not taken against any party, especially not against Israel, the friendly people… with whom we want to have the best possible relationship,” stressing that recognition of the State of Palestine reflects “our complete rejection of Hamas, which is against the two-state solution.”
For his part, Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris said in a statement shortly after a government meeting approved the move, “Ireland’s decision is linked to keeping hope alive” in the Middle East, where the war that broke out after Hamas’ attack on Israeli territory on the 7th of October, the bloodiest in more than seventy years of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Harris also urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “listen to the world and stop the humanitarian disaster we are witnessing in Gaza.”
In Norway, Foreign Minister Espen Barth Ede praised the decision as a “historic day” for his country, which has been “one of the staunchest defenders of the Palestinian state… for thirty years.” He said, “It is unfortunate that the Israeli government has not shown any evidence of constructive engagement,” calling on the international community to redouble its efforts to support the two-state solution.
For its part, the Israeli authorities expressed their anger, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Israel Katz, in a message via the She took office after she called a short time ago for the liberation of Palestine “from the river to the sea.”
Critics of this slogan, including the Israeli government, interpret it as a call for the elimination of Israel.
Over the course of days, Katz intensified angry messages against the three countries on the “X” platform.
He posted video clips mixing images from the Hamas attack on October 7 and other images referring to Spain, Ireland or Norway, saying that Hamas can thank the leaders of these countries.
In this context, the Spanish Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albarez, announced to the press that Madrid, Dublin and Oslo would provide a “firm” response to the “attacks” of Israeli diplomacy.
He said at the conclusion of the cabinet session after adopting the decree officially recognizing the State of Palestine, “No one can intimidate us (…) We do not make our foreign policy by responding with tweets. We have clear ideas about the path we must take.”
The Palestinian Ambassador to Madrid, Hosni Abdel Wahed, thanked the three countries for taking this “extremely important step” and urged other European countries that support the two-state solution to “demonstrate their commitment and act in accordance with their values.”
Albaris is scheduled to receive the ministers of Qatar, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey on Wednesday to celebrate Spain’s recognition of the State of Palestine.
The Spanish and Irish governments met on Tuesday in Madrid and Dublin to formally ratify their decision to recognize the State of Palestine.
For its part, Norway transmitted a verbal memorandum to the new Palestinian Prime Minister, Muhammad Mustafa, on Sunday, indicating that this recognition would enter into force on Tuesday.
The three European countries, two of which are members of the European Union (Spain and Ireland), hope that other countries will join their initiative with a symbolic dimension, stressing the role played by Spain and Norway in the peace process in the Middle East in the 1990s. Madrid hosted a peace conference in 1991, two years before the Oslo Accords in 1993.
Slovenia also announced that it is in the process of recognizing the State of Palestine. However, the issue raises deep disagreements within the European Union.
Other member states, such as France, believe that the time is not right now, and this is what President Emmanuel Macron reiterated on Tuesday from Germany, saying during a press conference with Olaf Scholz in Meseburg, “France has prohibitions, and I am fully prepared to recognize the Palestinian state, but… “I believe that this recognition should come at a useful time.”
As for Germany, it does not consider such recognition except as a result of negotiations between the two parties.
Along with Spain, Ireland and Norway, 145 countries have recognized the State of Palestine out of 193 members of the United Nations, according to a census by the Palestinian National Authority.
The majority of Western European countries, North America, Australia, Japan, and South Korea are absent from this list.
Until now, Sweden was the only country in the European Union that recognized the State of Palestine in 2014. As for the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, and Cyprus, they recognized it before joining the European Union.
Meanwhile, the representative of the Proud France Party (extremist left), Sebastien Delogo, raised a Palestinian flag, on Tuesday, in the National Assembly during a question to the government about the situation in the Gaza Strip, while a number of representatives of the Italian Five Star Movement waved Palestinian flags during a discussion session. In Parliament regarding the Middle East.
Representatives of the opposition Five Star Movement stood and raised five Palestinian flags and the peace flag while their colleague, Riccardo Ricciardi, delivered a speech in which he demanded recognition of the State of Palestine.
The war began in the Gaza Strip after an unprecedented attack carried out by Hamas on Israeli territory on October 7, killing more than 1,170 people, most of them civilians, according to an Agence France-Presse census based on official Israeli data.
During the attack, 252 people were taken hostage and transported to Gaza. After a truce in November allowed the release of about a hundred of them, 121 hostages remain in the Gaza Strip, including 37 who died, according to the army.
The Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip in response to Hamas left at least 36,050 people dead, most of them civilians, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.
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