LJUBLJANA, Slovenia (AP) — Slovenian lawmakers met Tuesday for a vote on recognizing a Palestinian state.
The government last week approved a motion to recognize a Palestinian state, sending the proposal to parliament for final approval, which is necessary for the decision to take effect.
“We started talking to our allies about recognizing Palestine in February this year,” the prime minister said Robert Golob told lawmakers. “At the time the assessment was – the time is not yet ripe… we warned that we, Europe, have a… obligation to act.”
Slovenia’s move came just days after Spain, Norway and Ireland recognized a Palestinian state, which was condemned by Israel.
The ruling coalition led by Golob has a comfortable majority in Slovenia’s Slovenian Senate Assembly and the vote is expected to be a formality.
Golob also referred to Slovenia’s independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991 in his remarks to parliament.
“We Slovenians have been dreaming of this right for a thousand years. We got it 33 years ago,” Golob said. “Unfortunately, the Palestinian nation has not yet received this right.”
More than 140 countries recognize a Palestinian state – more than two-thirds of the United Nations.
“Slovenia will join them,” Golob said.
Slovenia’s main opposition party, the Slovenian Democratic Party, opposes the recognition. The right-wing party has demanded a referendum on the issue that would delay the vote, but withdrew that offer on Tuesday.
Slovenia began the recognition process in early May, but said it would wait until the situation in the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza improved. Golob has explained that he accelerated the process in response to Israel’s latest attacks on Rafah, which have displaced more than 1 million Palestinians.
Israel launched the attack after the October 7 Hamas-led attack in which militants crossed the Gaza border into Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostage.
Israeli air and land strikes have since killed more than 36,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians.
