UPDATE - Spain, Ireland, Slovenia, Malta agree to recognize Palestinian state

UPDATES WITH REMARKS BY SPANISH PRIME MINISTER

By Alyssa McMurtry

OVIEDO, Spain (AA) - The leaders of Spain, Ireland, Slovenia, and Malta released a joint statement on Friday announcing that they will recognize a Palestinian state.

The statement said the countries’ leaders agreed that “the only way to achieve lasting peace and stability in the region is through implementation of a two-state solution, with Israeli and Palestinian States living side-by-side, in peace and security.”

The statement said the four leaders discussed their “readiness” to recognize an independent Palestine.

It added that they will do so “when it can make a positive contribution and the circumstances are right.”

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez offered more details after the European Council meeting in Brussels.

Noting that the joint statement is “necessarily vague” about the timing, he said “the decision is made to recognize Palestine, now the debate is about when.”

Since late last year, Sanchez has vowed to recognize Palestine within this government’s term. For Spain, that means sometime within the next three and a half years maximum.

He added that the European Council’s conclusions on Thursday put Spain in a position of “greater legitimacy so that various countries in the bloc could take this step.”

On Thursday, the bloc’s conclusions spoke of the "catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza and its disproportionate effect on civilians," as well as the "famine caused by the insufficient entry of aid into Gaza." For the first time, the EU unanimously called for an eventual Gaza cease-fire.

“Honestly, now is the time,” Sanchez told journalists, adding that it will be important to monitor the UN Security Council’s decisions, as well as the reformed Palestinian Authority’s ability to govern in the coming weeks.

“Within Spain, this has nothing to do with ideology. … There are many people from the left, right, and center that can’t bear to see what’s happening — all of the suffering in the Gaza Strip, the injustice in the West Bank. And they are genuinely afraid of the escalation of a conflict that has been ongoing for many months. We need to contribute to end it,” the Socialist prime minister added.

Sanchez also highlighted that the four EU countries willing to make the move belong to different regions in Europe and are ruled by different parties.

Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob is a member of the social liberal Freedom Movement, the Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela belongs to the Labour Party, and Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to the center-right Fine Gael party.

However, Varadkar announced his resignation earlier this week.