EU Countries Set To Recognize Palestinian State In May

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Several EU members are expected to recognize Palestinian statehood by the end of May, according to the EU’s top diplomat Josep Borell.

Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy director, made the remarks to reporters in the Saudi capital Riyadh, on the margins of the World Economic Forum on Monday.

In response to a request by Anadolu, his office confirmed that based on indications from various EU member states, Borrell expects some of them to make an announcement regarding “possible recognition of Palestine in the course of next month.”

On Borrell’s remarks, a spokesperson later said they were “slightly over-interpreted.”

“This was said in the context of a wider discussion about the two-state solution, the latest vote in the UN Security Council on admitting Palestine, as a member and an upcoming vote on this same issue in the UN General Assembly,” the spokesperson said.

His office reiterated that recognition comes on the level of individual member states, and is not a decision for the bloc.

Oren Marmorstein, spokesperson for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, warned that such a move by European countries would be a “prize for Hamas terrorists”

“These days, every statement about the possibility that European countries will recognize a Palestinian state is a prize for Hamas terrorists, who carried out the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, ” Marmorstein wrote.

“Only direct negotiations between the parties will lead to peace.

“The world, including Europe, should currently focus solely on the immediate release of the 133 women and men taken hostage and on the destruction of the Hamas terror organization.

Anyone promoting a different agenda at this time is playing into the hands of Hamas and is hindering efforts to reach a deal on releasing the hostages and humanitarian relief.