Ireland to recognize Palestinian state by end of May

Ireland will “certainly” recognize a Palestinian state before the end of May, Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin said on Wednesday, without giving a precise date.

“We will recognize the State of Palestine before the end of the month,” Micheal Martin, who is also Ireland's deputy prime minister, told Newstalk radio.

In March, the leaders of Spain, Ireland, Slovenia and Malta declared in a joint statement that they were ready to recognize the Palestinian state.

Last week, Josep Borrell, the EU's chief diplomat, said that Spain, Ireland and Slovenia planned to recognize the Palestinian state on May 21, and that other countries could follow.

Ireland has long indicated that it has no objection in principle to officially recognizing the Palestinian state if it would contribute to the Middle East peace process.

But the war in Gaza has revived this question.

“The precise date (of recognition of the Palestinian state, editor’s note) is still unclear because we are still in discussions with certain countries,” said Micheal Martin. It “will be clarified in the coming days, but it will certainly be before the end of the month”.

He said he was “impatiently” awaiting discussions “on the final details” planned for Wednesday with some of his counterparts.

The Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who also pleads for the recognition of a Palestinian state, went to Dublin in mid-April, where he held a joint press conference with the Irish head of government, Simon Harris.

“We think the moment is getting closer,” Simon Harris said at the time. “We would like to do it with as many other (countries) as possible in order to give weight to the decision and send the strongest message,” he added.

On October 7, Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza in southern Israel carried out an attack which left more than 1,170 dead, mostly civilians. More than 250 people were kidnapped during the attack and 128 remain captive in Gaza, including 36 considered dead, according to the army.

In response, the Israeli army launched bombings followed by a ground offensive, which caused a humanitarian catastrophe with a heavy toll: more than 35,000 deaths, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.