What drives Slovenia’s recognition of Palestine?, After Ireland, Norway, and Spain recognized Palestinian statehood earlier this year, Slovenia is set to join them in recognizing Palestinian statehood in June.
There is still a deep division among European Union members because of Israel’s war on Gaza. There are some countries on one end of the spectrum that staunchly support Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government in their respective countries. For example, Germany, Hungary, and the Netherlands are among them. Furthermore, there have been countries like Slovenia which have made strong criticisms of Israel’s military conduct and have called on the international community to make sure that these leaders are held accountable for the actions taken.
There is no doubt that Ljubljana condemns both Hamas and Israel, but the city has consistently called for permanent peace in Gaza, the freedom of humanitarian aid, and bold steps towards a two-state solution, despite its strong condemnation of both parties.
A ceasefire was declared immediately by the UN General Assembly on October 2023, following a vote by Belgium, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, and Spain.
There was a time when Israeli officials accused UNRWA of infiltrating the UNRWA, which led to a severe cutoff of support to the agency from the United States and other Western governments as a result. Slovenia continued to fund the agency, but also increased contributions to it, when the United States and other Western nations stopped supporting it.
Slovenia voted last month in favor of a draft resolution to grant full membership to the State of Palestine to the United Nations in its capacity as a non-permanent member of the Security Council.
As recently as earlier this month, Slovenia voted for a resolution urging Palestine to become a full member of the United Nations, which was passed by the UN General Assembly with overwhelming support.
During the parliamentary session, Tanja Fajon, the foreign minister, described Palestine’s statehood as a “moral duty”.
The Slovenian government has said that it is neither pro-Israeli or pro-Palestinian, but that it understands and sympathizes with citizens on both sides, Eva Tomic, the president of Slovenia’s adviser on climate policy and human rights.
There is a need for peace and security to be maintained on both sides of the conflict, and it is the responsibility of the international community to help them achieve that goal.
In her statement, the Slovenian Prime Minister explained that Slovenia, despite being relatively small in size, believes that multilateral cooperation is a valuable and valuable thing.
It is important for us to listen to other parts of the world, we are not burdened with any historical colonial past in our country.
It has never been easier to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but for the first time in many decades, the opinion of the world public has been shifting for the first time in many decades. I have heard that there are also students protesting for justice and peace in Slovenia,” she told me.
In an interview with DELO, a Slovenian newspaper, foreign correspondent and war reporter Bostjan Videmsek remarks, “I do not believe Slovenia as a country is necessarily a leader within the European Union when it comes to advocating on behalf of the Palestinians.”
According to him, there is just a lack of political courage in some other countries, including the European Commission, and that is due to the fact that a large part of the EU, namely Germany, is standing on the wrong side of history once again. In my opinion, Slovenia’s support goes beyond the fundamentals of the fundamentals. It’s not enough, it’s not too little.”
The Slovenian foreign policy, which has long centered on respecting international law and working on coordination at the multilateral level with other countries, has long been oriented towards supporting rights of others to self-determination, such as the Palestinians.
This usually means that smaller states must be protected from more powerful actors and countries in order for them to survive.
According to a Slovenian professor at the University of Primorska in Koper, Slovenia, Primoz Sterbenc, an assistant professor at the University of Primorska in Koper, Slovenia, There would be a lawless “jungle” in which the largest states would be free to impose their will on the smaller states in the absence of international law in international relations. In light of Israel’s continuous and flagrant violations of international law in the [occupied Palestinian territories] that have occurred since 1967, Slovenia seems compelled to be critical of Israel for its attempts to destroy the possibility of establishing a sovereign and viable Palestinian state in the [occupied Palestinian territories].
In response, the leaders of the nations that have recognised the statehood of Palestine for the first time argue that this is a big step in bringing about a two-state solution.
Tomic said future negotiations between Israel and Palestine should not take place between the occupying force and the occupied as it does now.
A statement from the Slovenian embassy in Washington, “We believe that the Palestinian people have a right to self-determination, a state of their own, and the right to survive … It is imperative to respect international law rigorously in order to end the untenable and unacceptable situation in the Middle East”.
Embrace their open-mindedness to empathize with them
Considering Tito’s role as a leader of the Non-Aligned Movement, and Yugoslavia’s position towards the conflict, Slovenia’s stance on statehood can partly explain Ljubljana’s foreign policy regarding Palestine.
Some Slovenians’ perspectives on Palestine are shaped by the collapse of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s.
Novica Mihajlovic, a journalist and editor at DELO, said most Slovenians remember the 1991 war of independence. Whenever a stronger and bigger opponent attacks a side in an international conflict, Slovenians tend to feel empathy for them.
In the past, Slovenia was part of larger federative states and under the rule of other states.
Tomic said Slovenia became a state after growing up in a democratic and humane environment. As a result of realising our right to self-determination, we are inspired not to deny others this right by denying our own right to self-determination. It is from this perspective that we can understand Slovenia’s stance on the human rights situation in Palestine at the UN and in the EU.”
A number of countries in the Global South, a term that refers to Latin America, Africa, and most of Southeast Asia, have welcomed Slovenia’s move.
Despite the horrific war in Gaza, I hope that this war will serve to deepen our sense of humanity, regardless where we live in the world or what part of it we live in,” said Tomic. According to the Arab world as well as the Global South, human rights cannot be considered a privilege that is granted to only the well-off kinds of people in the West or North, regardless of their ethnicities, races, or descent. This is the gist of our shared understanding with both the Arab world as well as the Global South: human rights cannot be regarded as a privilege of the wealthy”.
It is clear that many observers do not know whether the push to recognize Palestinian statehood will be successful as more countries recognize it, however.
According to Sterbenc, recognition could inadvertently create the impression that justice has been done when in fact it has not, causing a “false impression” that justice has been done while not changing what actually happens.
There is a risk that by recognising Palestine, members of the EU are going to be able to evade their international obligations, according to the Slovenian academic. According to him, the bloc must go further and impose economic sanctions at both the EU and national levels on Israel, if they are to make any progress.
“Despite the fact that the EU has a long tradition of financing the Palestinian Authority …, this practice has only removed the financial burden which Israelis were supposed to bear as the occupying power, due to the fact that this practice has only taken that burden away from them.”
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