European Countries Plan to Recognize Palestine as a State Amid Israeli Attacks: Latest Updates

West Bank –

Palestine still trying to gain recognition as a state amid continued Israeli attacks. Recently, several European countries said that they would immediately recognize Palestine as a state.

For your information, all this time Palestine has been struggling to become an independent country, to be recognized around the world and to become a member of the United Nations (UN). The latest attempt for Palestine to become a member state of the UN has been blocked by the United States (USA) through a visa at the UN Security Council on Thursday (18/4/2024).

The US veto means that Palestine retains observer status at the UN. Palestine, represented by the Palestine Liberation Organization, has held this status since 2012.

Now, several European countries are said to officially recognize the state of Palestine at the end of May 2024. The plans of European countries to recognize the state of Palestine immediately started a strong response from Israel.

Reported Reuters and Al ArabiyaOn Tuesday (30/4/2024), this was expressed by the head of foreign policy of the European Union, Josep Borrell, when he spoke to journalists on the sidelines at a special meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEC) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Borrell did not mention the countries that would officially recognize the state of Palestine. However, several European countries such as Spain, Ireland, Malta and Slovenia announced that they would make joint efforts to officially recognize Palestine as a state.

In a statement on March 22, Spain revealed that, in the name of Middle East peace, it had agreed with Ireland, Malta and Slovenia to take the first step towards a de facto Palestinian state in the West Bank and take the Gaza Strip.

The Gaza Strip, which has long been under the control of the Hamas group, has been wracked by a war that has also fueled an increase in violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. It is also known that the West Bank area is where there were large Jewish cities.

It is known that Israel attacked Gaza in retaliation for Hamas’s sudden attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. Hamas’s attack resulted in 1,200 deaths in Israel.

At the same time, Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed more than 34 thousand people and injured tens of thousands. Millions of people in Gaza are forced to flee and are at risk of starvation.

Israel criticizes plans for European states to recognize Palestine

Israel also criticized the four European countries’ plans to seek recognition for a Palestinian state. Israel said the plan was tantamount to giving a ‘gift to terrorism’ which would reduce the chances of finding a solution to the conflict between Israel and Palestine.

“The recognition of a Palestinian state after the October 7 massacre sends a message to Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups that deadly terrorist attacks against Israeli citizens will be met with anti-Palestinian political movements,” Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a statement. last March.

“The conflict can only be resolved through direct negotiation between the parties. Any involvement in recognizing a Palestinian state will only speed up the implementation of the resolution and increase regional instability,” he said at the time.

Read more on the next page.

(half/half)