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Spain to Recognize Palestinian Statehood by July

File photo: Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez leaves after a press conference at the end of the second and last day of the European Council summit at the EU headquarters in Brussels on March 22, 2024. (Photo by KENZO TRIBOUILLARD / AFP)
File photo: Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez leaves after a press conference at the end of the second and last day of the European Council summit at the EU headquarters in Brussels on March 22, 2024. (Photo by KENZO TRIBOUILLARD / AFP)
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Spain to Recognize Palestinian Statehood by July

File photo: Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez leaves after a press conference at the end of the second and last day of the European Council summit at the EU headquarters in Brussels on March 22, 2024. (Photo by KENZO TRIBOUILLARD / AFP)
File photo: Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez leaves after a press conference at the end of the second and last day of the European Council summit at the EU headquarters in Brussels on March 22, 2024. (Photo by KENZO TRIBOUILLARD / AFP)

Spain will recognize Palestinian statehood by July, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told journalists during a Middle East tour, according to several reports published on Tuesday in Spanish 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, Reuters reported.
He expected Spain to extend recognition to the Palestinians by July, he said, adding that he believed there would soon be a "critical mass" within the European Union to push several member states to adopt the same position, according to EFE.
At a European Council meeting on March 22, Sanchez said he had agreed with the leaders of Ireland, Malta and Slovenia to "take the first steps" towards recognizing statehood declared by Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.
At the time, he said he expected the recognition to happen during the current four-year legislature that began last year.
In response, Israel told the four countries that their plan constituted a "prize for terrorism" that would reduce the chances of a negotiated resolution to the Gaza conflict.
Arab states and the EU had agreed at a meeting in Spain in November that a two-state solution was the answer to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Since 1988, 139 out of 193 UN member states have recognized Palestinian statehood.

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Italy Plans to Return Ambassador to Syria to Reflect New Diplomatic Developments, Minister Says

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
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Italy Plans to Return Ambassador to Syria to Reflect New Diplomatic Developments, Minister Says

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)

Italy plans to send an ambassador back to Syria after a decade-long absence, the country’s foreign minister said, in a diplomatic move that could spark divisions among European Union allies.

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, speaking in front of relevant parliamentary committees Thursday, announced Rome’s intention to re-establish diplomatic ties with Syria to prevent Russia from monopolizing diplomatic efforts in the Middle Eastern country.

Moscow is considered a key supporter of Syrian President Bashar Assad, who has remained in power despite widespread Western isolation and civilian casualties since the start of Syria’s civil war in March 2011.

Peaceful protests against the Assad government — part of the so-called “Arab Spring” popular uprisings that spread across some of the Middle East — were met by a brutal crackdown, and the uprising quickly spiraled into a full-blown civil war.

The conflict was further complicated by the intervention of foreign forces on all sides and a rising militancy, first by al-Qaida-linked groups and then the ISIS group until its defeat on the battlefield in 2019.

The war, which has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million, is now largely frozen, despite ongoing low-level fighting.

The country is effectively carved up into areas controlled by the Damascus-based government of Assad, various opposition groups and Syrian Kurdish forces.

In the early days of the conflict, many Western and Arab countries cut off relations with Syria, including Italy, which has since managed Syria-related diplomacy through its embassy in Beirut.

However, since Assad has regained control over most of the territory, neighboring Arab countries have gradually restored relations, with the most symbolically significant move coming last year when Syria was re-admitted to the Arab League.

Tajani said Thursday the EU’s policy in Syria should be adapted to the “development of the situation,” adding that Italy has received support from Austria, Croatia, Greece, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Cyprus and Slovakia.

However, the US and allied countries in Europe have largely continued to hold firm in their stance against Assad’s government, due to concerns over human rights violations.