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Slovenia postpones vote recognition of State of Palestine

January 31, 2018 at 3:02 pm

Slovenian President Bohut Pahor [Archive.government.ru]

Slovenia’s Foreign Affairs Committee has postponed a vote on a draft resolution which would be a first step towards recognition of the State of Palestine, according to i24 News.

Procedural reasons were said to be responsible for the two week delay.

Earlier this week, the Slovenian Ambassador in Tel Aviv, Barbara Sušnik said “that the issue of recognising Palestinian statehood has been pending in the country’s parliament since 2014, and is only now coming to a vote.”

“For the people of Slovenia, the principle of self-determination of nations is very important,” she said, “because that is how Slovenia became independent 26 years ago, when we exercised the right to self-determination. All nations have the right to self-determination.”

However in a statement last week, Slovenian President Bohut Pahor said he felt the timing of the decision was wrong.

Whilst the president “supports the diplomatic recognition of Palestine in circumstances where this recognition would help to regulate bilateral issues [between the Palestinians and] Israel, and not aggravate them….at this moment, we have not witnessed such circumstances,” the statement read.

Read: Palestine is definitely a European issue

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has campaigned for numerous European leaders to recognise Palestine in the aftermath of US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Last week, during a visit to Brussels, he urged the EU’s 28 foreign ministers to recognise Palestine as a state with East Jerusalem as its capital. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini assured Abbas that this would be the resolution of the EU as per the two-state solution.

Luxembourg, Ireland and Belgium are also reportedly considering recognising Palestinian statehood, with France campaigning for the Palestinian Authority’s status in the European Union to be upgraded, although stopping short of full recognition of a Palestinian state. The French government is also pursuing an EU free trade agreement with the Palestinians, similar to the one signed with Israel.

Read: Council of Europe tells PA to stop supporting prisoners’ families