Spain says it supports the Palestinian bid for statehood

JP:  Madrid's FM says she hopes meeting with EU FMs will bring progress toward recognition of statehood, warns against frustrating Palestinians.

MADRID - Spain hopes a meeting of European Union foreign ministers on Sept. 2 will bring progress towards the recognition of a Palestinian state, Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs Trinidad Jimenez said on Sunday.

"There's the feeling that now is the time to do something, to give the Palestinians the hope that a state could become reality," she said in an interview with El Pais newspaper published on Sunday.

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

The meeting of EU foreign ministers in Sopot, Poland comes ahead of a United Nations General Assembly meeting later in September where Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is seeking to upgrade the Palestinians' status, but is unlikely to emerge with full UN membership for his country.

More likely is an upgrade of the Palestinian territories to become a non-member state from its current status as an observer. That would not need Security Council approval and would elevate the Palestinians' UN status to equal that of the Vatican.

The Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Shaul Mofaz (Kadima) postponed on Saturday the presentation of findings on the possible repercussions of a Palestinian declaration of statehood at the UN in September.

Mofaz has criticized the government numerous times in recent months, accusing it of being unprepared for the consequences of the expected UN vote.

“If the diplomatic process for September had been significant, most of the army’s preparations would not have been necessary,” he said after IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz briefed the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee last month.