Italy did not believe that there were currently conditions for recognising Palestine as a state, Italian Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, Antonio Tajani said.
“At the moment, there are no conditions under constitutional and international law for recognising the State of Palestine. We must work to create it.”
Tajani was quoted by the Italian newspaper Repubblica as saying at a public event of the Forza Italia party held on Sunday.
On July 27, twenty-four former ambassadors sent a letter to Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni calling for recognition of Palestine.
“This does not mean that we should not tell Israel that it is time for it to stop bombing, attacking civilians and stop the casualties.
“Just as we must tell Hamas that it should stop using Palestinians as human shields and holding hostages who bear no responsibility for Israeli policies in inhumane conditions.
“We must send clear signals aimed specifically at building peace,” Tajani was quoted as saying.
Palestine is recognised by 147 countries. It has been recognized by 10 countries since 2024, including by Ireland, Norway, Spain and Armenia.
The U.S. did not recognise Palestine and vetoed its full membership of the UN in 2024.
On July 25, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that France would officially recognise the State of Palestine at the UN General Assembly in September.
On July 28-30, a high-level UN international conference on Palestine was held in New York, co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia.
Following the conference, the French Foreign Ministry published a joint statement by foreign ministers of 15 Western countries calling for the recognition of Palestinian statehood.
Russia maintains that an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is only possible if the UN-approved two-state solution is implemented.
It envisages the creation of a Palestinian State within the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
