Permanent ceasefire, releasing of hostages among conditions for Malta to recognise Palestinian state

Achieving a permanent and immediate ceasefire as well as releasing all of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza since October 7th, 2023, are among the conditions listed by Deputy Prime Minister Ian Borg for Malta to recognise Palestine as a state.

Borg was replying to a parliamentary question posed by Nationalist Party MP Graziella Attard Previ, who asked the Deputy Prime Minister what the factors are for the Maltese state to recognise Palestine as a state.

He replied that Malta has always reiterated that the best chance of stability in the region is the ‘two-state solution’, which he said means that Israel and Palestine would live side-by-side in peace and security. “We must work to create a political perspective for this to happen,” he commented.

“Malta has been a supporter of the Palestinian people and their right to have a state since November 1988,” Borg stated.

The Deputy Prime Minister said that the Ministry for Foreign Affairs believes that consideration for the recognition of Palestine as a state by Malta “in the current volatile circumstances” should be based on a number of conditions. He continued that the conditions include the aforementioned permanent ceasefire and releasing of hostages in Gaza as well as progress in the reform process of the Palestinian Authority and the recognition of Palestine as a state by the majority of European partners “to ensure the maximisation of such recognition”.

Borg added that the recognition of Palestine as a sovereign and independent state by the Republic of Malta must be based on the pre-1967 borders “or any other border agreed between Israel and Palestine.”