The Prime Minister’s Office announced that Malta will formally recognize a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly in New York on Monday, aligning with a group of countries taking similar action.
Britain, Canada, Australia and Portugal all recognised a Palestinian state on Sunday, a move intended to promote a two-state solution to end the war in Gaza. France and several other states are expected to make the same decision on Monday.
Malta’s Prime Minister Robert Abela first announced plans for the recognition of a Palestinian state in May, but the U.N. conference was later postponed.
The Mediterranean EU island has a history of support for Palestinian causes and has backed efforts for a two-state solution, while maintaining diplomatic relations with Israel.
The wife of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat lived on the island for several years.
Late on Sunday Abela hailed the delivery of a consignment of flour donated by Malta to Gaza “on the eve of Malta’s recognition of a Palestinian state”, in a Facebook post.
He said that the recognition of a Palestinian state was “historic” and Malta remained committed to reaching peace in the region.
Western Backing For Palestinian Statehood
The decision by four nations from the West – Britain, Canada, Australia, and Portugal – which has traditionally allied with Israel, aligned them with more than 140 other countries also backing Palestinians’ aspiration to forge an independent homeland from the occupied territories.
The coordinated recognition by these Western nations aims to revive the stalled two-state solution and push for a lasting peace in the region.
Western governments have been under pressure from many in their parties and populations angry at the ever-rising death toll in Gaza, images of starving children and their states’ inability to rein in Israel, even continuing to provide arms.
Israel’s ensuing campaign in Gaza has killed more than 65,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to local health authorities, spread famine, demolished most buildings and displaced most of the population – often multiple times.
(With inputs from Reuters)
