EU's Borrell says recognising Palestine is not a gift to Hamas

High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell in Brussels, Belgium on 06 May, 2024 [European Commission/POOL/Anadolu Agency]

European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said today that recognising a Palestinian state was not a gift to Hamas, Reuters reports.

Ireland, Norway and Spain said on Wednesday they would recognise a Palestinian state on 28 May, to help secure a halt to Israel’s Gaza offensive and revive peace talks that stalled a decade ago.

“Recognising the Palestinian state is not a gift to Hamas, quite the contrary,” he said. “The Palestinian Authority is not Hamas, on the contrary they are deeply confronted.”

He added the EU already talked, financed and met the Palestinian Authority.

“Every time someone makes the decision to support a Palestinian state, … the reaction of Israel is to transform it in an anti-Semitic attack,” he added.

In response to the European country’s decision to recognise the State of Palestine, Israel recalled its ambassadors and said it would take other measures against them. Today it announced that it would stop the Spanish Consulate in occupied Jerusalem from serving Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

Read: What’s missing in the historic ICC decision to bring Israeli leaders to justice for war crimes?

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