Spain To Recognize Palestinian Statehood, Calls On Western Allies To Follow Suit

Spain has been foremost among European countries which have repeatedly condemned Israel's ongoing military operation in Gaza and the resultant soaring Palestinian death toll. The EU country is also among those demanding answers for the drone strikes that killed a group of World Central Kitchen aid workers this week. "I expect and demand that the Israeli government clarify as soon as possible the circumstances of this brutal attack that has taken the lives of seven aid workers who were doing nothing but helping," Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in a fresh statement.

But Prime Minister Sanchez is also driving global headlines for his Tuesday statements declaring the Spanish government is moving forward with recognizing Palestinian statehood. The Financial Times reported that the country is ready to bestow formal recognition as early as July.

Sanchez said, "We have to seriously consider doing it in the first half of this year." The declaration he made while on a Middle East tour is sure to rile Israeli leadership, which has condemned efforts to force recognition of a Palestinian state at a moment the Israeli military is in a fight with Hamas terrorists.

According to more details via regional media: 

State news agency EFE and newspapers El Pais and La Vanguardia cited Sanchez as making the informal remarks to the traveling press corps late on Monday in the Jordanian capital, Amman, on the first day of visits to Jordan, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

According to the reports, Sanchez said he expected events to unfold in the conflict ahead of the European Parliament elections in early June and highlighted ongoing debates at the United Nations.

Of course, Spain wouldn't be the first to unilaterally recognize Palestine (outside of a broader UN move, for example). Those EU states to have previously done so include Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. Ireland and Malta have also recently said they are on board and plan to do so.

However, the UK, France, and Germany have expressed they will not recognize Palestine outside of a broader deal for a two-state solution that involves Israeli assent.

Spain and those European countries which have already made declarations of recognition want to see the Palestinian Authority (PA) take control of Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state.

Various two-state solution plans have been proposed over the past decades, but have never taken shape...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, has vowed to block all of these efforts - and indeed the scenario would remain impossible without Israeli agreement, given IDF troops currently occupy all of these places.