Spain will recognise Palestinian state by summer

Her government decided to recognise a Palestinian state by summer, according to Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s statements in “We must seriously think about doing so this semester,” the Spanish Prime Minister, according to the newspaper La Vanguardia, told reporters accompanying him on his tour of three Middle East countries that started in Jordan. His statements show speeding up the timetable Pedro Sanchez had recently presented for the recognition of a Palestinian state. On 9 March, he announced that he would propose to the Spanish Parliament to vote for this recognition by the end of the parliamentary term, that is until the summer of 2027. Less than two weeks later, on 22 March, on the margins of the European summit in Brussels, the Spanish Prime Minister and his counterparts of Ireland, Malta and Slovenia published a joint communication stating “ready to recognise Palestine” and that this will be done “when it can be a positive contribution (to the settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict) and when conditions are favourable.” El País estimates that recognition can be made during the European election campaign, which in Spain takes place on 9 June, “or the weeks to follow”. According to El País, Pedro Sanchez told reporters accompanying him on the tour that “the decisions that will soon be taken in Brussels and New York”, i.e. from the European Union and the UN, meaning that the Madrid decision will be linked to the development of the international situation. El País also estimates that the Spanish Prime Minister, who after Jordan will visit Saudi Arabia and Qatar, wants “to try to convince Arab countries that have not yet recognised Israel”, such as these Gulf countries “to do so”. The Prime Minister of Spain insists that the only solution to the conflict requires the recognition of two states, Israel and Palestine.