Spain encourages Palestinian state

The Palestinians are seeking to obtain recognition of their state when the UN General Assembly meets in September.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/195075.html

Spain's Minister of Foreign Affairs hopes that the European Union foreign ministers meeting in early September will bring progress along the road toward the recognition of a Palestinian state.

"There's the feeling that now is the time to do something, to give the Palestinians the hope that a state could become [a] reality," Trinidad Jimenez said, Reuters reported.

"We have to give them some signal, because if we don't it could generate great frustration for the Palestinian people," she added.

The meeting of EU foreign ministers in Sopot, Poland comes ahead of a United Nations General Assembly meeting later in September.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will attend a United Nations General Assembly meeting to upgrade the Palestinian status and gain full UN membership for his country.

Washington and Tel Aviv remain opposed to the move.

Palestinians have been campaigning to win UN recognition for a state that encompasses the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and illegally annexed East al-Quds (Jerusalem) -- the territories Israel captured in the Six-Day War of 1967.

Over 100 countries have endorsed the Palestinian 1988 declaration of independent statehood.

UN membership requires a recommendation from the Security Council and approval by two-thirds of the General Assembly, or 128 countries.