Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albarez said this Wednesday that the country will refuse to set preconditions, such as Arab recognition of Israel, when recognizing the State of Palestine, which must be completed by July.
“There is no specific date yet, but it will certainly be before July, the right time is now,” Albarez said at a meeting with some journalists in Brussels.
The Foreign Minister added that “this is a position without preconditions” and that Spain will not demand, for example, recognition of the State of Israel by Arab countries.
“This is not an isolated political act, in this extremely violent context we need to do something to prevent the violence from continuing,” he added, arguing that recognizing Palestine is also good for Israel’s own security and “preventing attacks like those carried out by terrorist group Hamas.”
Diplomatic sources later told Lusa that bilateral talks were underway to get more European Union countries to recognize the State of Palestine.
This position is already publicly defended by Spain, Ireland and Slovenia, and there is a prospect that by July more countries from the community bloc will recognize the State of Palestine.
The same sources believe that a United Nations resolution on this matter could appear soon, and while a few months ago there were several countries publicly criticizing Israel for the way it carried out military operations in the Gaza Strip, this Wednesday the outlook is more favorable for recognition of Palestine.
While there are no preconditions, diplomatic sources have acknowledged that the Islamist movement Hamas cannot under any circumstances be part of the equation.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said on Tuesday that Spain plans to recognize a Palestinian state by July, expecting relevant news on the issue in the coming months through bodies such as the United Nations, which would lead to several countries doing the same .