Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

EU Will Not Recognize a Unilaterally Declared Palestinian State

The European Union will not recognize Palestinian statehood until an “appropriate” time, its Foreign Affairs Council said in a statement.

The 27 EU foreign ministers meeting Monday in Brussels issued the statement in response to a letter from Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat to EU foreign policy head Catherine Ashton asking the body to join those countries that already have recognized a unilaterally declared Palestinian state.

Argentina and Brazil announced their support last week of a unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state.

“The EU commends the work of the Palestinian Authority in building the institutions of the future State of Palestine and reiterates its full support for their endeavors in this regard and the (Palestine Prime Minister Salam) Fayyad plan,” read the EU Foreign Affairs Council’s statement.

“[The council] reiterates its readiness, when appropriate, to recognize a Palestinian state,” it added, saying that “urgent progress is needed towards a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

The statement said the ministers were disappointed that Israel did not extend its settlement freeze and reiterated that “Our views on settlements, including in East Jerusalem, are clear: they are illegal under international law and an obstacle to peace.”

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.