The Government of Slovenia announced this Thursday its recognition of the State of Palestine through a proposal that will send to Parliament for a final decision regarding this scheduled for next Tuesday.
“Today, the Government has made the decision to recognize Palestine as an independent state and sovereign,” said the Slovenian Prime Minister, the liberal Robert Golob, at the press conference after the session in which they adopted the proposal.
Golob has stated that his Government recognizes Palestine “with the 1967 borders or with the borders that the parties involved agree on a future peace agreement“
“Today is the time for the entire world to work in one direction: it is the one that leads to lasting peace in the Middle East and it is in the direction of two States, Israel and Palestine,” Golob stated.
The Slovenian president then declared that “the decision is a message to both parties (Israel and Hamas): we hope that the attacks stop as soon as possible and that the hostages are released as soon as possible,” in reference to the more than one hundred Israelis still held in Gaza by ‘the Islamic Resistance Movement’ Hamas.
“Nothing against Israel”
Golob has assured that the recognition is in no way “against Israel or against anyone”, but rather “It is a message of peace“.
The former Yugoslav republic, a member of the European Union (EU) since 2004, thus joins Spain, Norway and Irelandwho announced the recognition of the State of Palestine last Tuesday.
Increase international pressure
Golob’s executive considers that the recognition of Palestine international pressure on Israel and Hamas will increase to return to negotiations to achieve a lasting ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza.
“This would end the killings of civilianswould allow the delivery of humanitarian aid and the debate on the necessary measures after the end of the conflict”, as indicated in the proposal sent to Parliament, reports EFE.
“Hamas is not awarded”
With this recognition, the Slovenian Government wants to send a political signal that it is necessary end as soon as possible to the disproportionate use of Israeli military force in Gaza, which has caused material destruction and an uncontrollable humanitarian crisis.
At the same time, it reiterates that the recognition “It is not an award to Hamas” for the terrorist attack against Israel on October 7.
Parliamentary approval
Slovenian laws stipulate that the proposal for the recognition of a country comes from the Government, and that it must then be approved by the parliamentary committee on Foreign Policy and, finally, by Parliament, where Golob’s Government has a majority.
The Government of the Liberal Movement (GS), of Golob, and its partners the Social Democratic Party (SD) and the Left, have a majority of 53 of the 90 deputies of Parliament.
The opposition
The Christian Democrats of the NSi, who have eight seats, They indicated that they will not oppose, but they will not give their support to the Government’s proposal either. At the same time, it is not clear how the deputies of the main opposition party, the conservative SDS, will vote.
The leader of the SDS, Janez Jansa, today criticized the Government’s decision as a political act to gather votes for the European elections and that “harms Slovenian interests in the long term”. Janza assured that he is not opposed to the recognition of Palestine, but that at this moment there are no conditions for it.
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