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Date Published: 22/05/2024

Spain to recognise state of Palestine on May 28

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Ireland and Norway will also recognise the Palestinian State on the same date

Spain to recognise state of Palestine on May 28

In an appearance before the Congress of Deputies on Wednesday May 22, Prime Minister and President of the Spanish Government Pedro Sánchez announced that Spain will recognise the State of Palestine on Tuesday May 28, 2024.

“We are going to recognise Palestine because it is the right thing to do,” said Sánchez.

He said that the decision has been agreed between the two coalition parties in the Spanish government and claims that it echoes the feeling of the majority Spanish people.

Spain will officially recognise the State of Palestine next 28 May echoing the will of the majority of the Spanish people.

Time has come to move from words into action.

Peace, justice and coherence are the basis of our historic decision.
— Pedro Sánchez (@sanchezcastejon) May 22, 2024

His announcement comes on the same morning that Irish Taoiseach Simon Harris said that his government would also be recognising Palestine on May 28.

The Norwegian Government also announced this Wednesday the recognition of the State of Palestine.

The historic decision from these three European countries that comes after weeks of negotiations, led by Spain and Ireland, to try to gain support within the European Union for the materialisation of a two-state solution in Israel and Palestine.

Jonas Gahr Støre, Prime Minister of Norway, said, “There can be no peace in the Middle East without the Palestinians and Israelis having their own state and without a two-state solution. There can be no two-state solution without a Palestinian state. Peace in the Middle East needs a two-state solution.”

Pedro Sánchez said, “We must recognise the Palestinian state bilaterally. It is time to take action and tell them that we are with them. No matter how many villages are bombed, the land and the identity of Palestine will continue to exist.”

He also said that Spain will be taking in some 30 Gazan children who are “diagnosed with cancer or suffering from severe trauma” in the coming weeks.

“This recognition is not against anyone. Nor is it in favour of Hamas,” Sánchez insisted. “This recognition is in favour of peace, international law and the two-state solution.”

The recognition of a state is a legal act regulated by international law and depends only on the exclusive will of a state that decides to recognise another state on an equal footing. In theory, this allows international treaties to be signed and diplomatic relations to be established, which is something that is complicated in the Palestinian case. The Spanish government currently maintains relations with the Palestinian National Authority, which governs the West Bank and with whose representative, Muhammed Abbas, Sánchez himself has met.

The two-state solution that those countries recognising Palestine hope to bring about aims to guarantee the existence of both the Israeli and Palestinian states, which can coexist peacefully in the territories that today include Israel, Gaza and the occupied West Bank. In November 1947, the United Nations recommended the partition of the territory of Palestine – one Israeli and one Palestinian – a conflict began that would last more than seven decades and continues to this day, largely because at least 80 countries in the world do not currently recognise one of the two states, making it impossible to define a territory and its borders.

The State of Palestinian is at present recognised by 139 countries out of the nearly 200 member states of the UN. Most of the states that recognise Palestine are in South America, Africa and Asia; in fact, in Africa, the only countries that do not recognise Palestine are Cameroon and Eritrea.

In the EU, only nine countries currently recognise the state of Palestine: Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Sweden.

Following the announcement this Wednesday, Israel has already recalled its Israeli ambassadors in Spain, Ireland and Norway for consultations. Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz, warned there would be “serious consequences” for the steps these European countries have taken.

A statement from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the “parade of stupidity does not deter us. We are determined to achieve our goals: to restore the security of our citizens with the elimination of Hamas and the return of the abductees. There are no objectives more just than these.”

In other news: Spain recalls ambassador to Argentina over political row

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