Oviedo, Spain, 10 May 2024 (Anadolu News)

EU’s Foreign Policy Chief, Josep Borrell said late Thursday that Spain, Ireland, and Slovenia plan to recognize a Palestinian state on May 21. He was asked about the date by Spanish broadcaster RNE after Ireland’s public broadcaster suggested that was the plan.

Borrell said he believed May 21 would be the date because Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told him and because on Thursday Slovenia initiated the political proceedings to recognize Palestinian statehood.

“And probably, after that, there will be more because Belgium was considering it, but has delayed the decision as it seeks more countries to join it,” Borrell said.

Other EU nations including Malta and Norway have also recently said they want to recognize a Palestinian state when it is possible. However, the governments of Spain and Ireland have stopped short of confirming a date.

On Thursday, Spain’s Albares said that although he could not confirm May 21, he emphasized that the decision has been made to recognize statehood “soon.”

Irish leader Simon Harris also refused to commit to the date when asked but is promising to make the move soon. “There is never a wrong time to do the right thing and the right thing to do right now is to recognize the state of Palestine,” Harris said at a news conference in Dublin on Thursday. “You cannot say you believe in a two-state solution and not recognize that there are two states.”

Meanwhile, the Slovenian government aims to send a formal request to parliament to recognize the State of Palestine before June 13.

May 21 would put a coordinated recognition right before the European Union election campaign begins.

The EU foreign policy chief applauded countries moving to recognize a Palestinian state in a public talk he gave in Madrid on Thursday, saying the idea is “rooted in the principles of defending human rights.”

“It’s great that those who really believe in a two-state solution are going further than just talking about it,” said Borrell. During the RNE interview, Borrell noted that the recognition is largely “symbolic,” adding: “It is more than recognizing a state, it is recognizing the will for this state to actually exist.”

Already, nine of the 27 EU states recognize Palestine, with Sweden being the latest to do so in 2014.

In recent weeks, the Caribbean countries – Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and The Bahamas – moved to recognize Palestine as a state. Now, all of the 14-member Caribbean Community holds a united position on the issue.

On Friday, the UN General Assembly is expected to vote on a resolution to favorably reconsider its request to become the 194th member of the UN.

“The only way they (Israel) won’t drop bombs is if they don’t have any,” the EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell told Spanish journalists on Thursday when asked about the US decision to withhold a weapons delivery to Israel.

His comments came ahead of a public conversation with Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares, where Borrell also applauded Madrid’s impending decision to recognize Palestinian statehood.

Israel’s daily Haaretz reported today that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday night that his government failed the Israeli people by leaving them. This is first time that Benjamin Netanyahu has admitted publicaly for the first time about his government’s failure to protect people from Hamas’ surprise attack on Oct. 7 of last year which killed around 1,200 people.

In an exclusive interview with Dr. Phil’s Primetime, a YouTube channel, on Thursday, Netanyahu was asked if he had failed in this matter, he said: “I hold myself and everyone on this.”

More than 34,900 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, the vast majority of whom have been women and children. Over 78,500 others have been injured, according to Palestinian health authorities. Thousands remain missing.

Seven months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine, according to the UN. Most of the displaced have sought refuge in Rafah following earlier Israeli evacuation orders.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). An interim ruling in January said it is “plausible” that Tel Aviv is committing genocide in the coastal enclave, and ordered Tel Aviv to stop such acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians.