Slovenia is expected to recognize Palestinian statehood in June, following in the footsteps of Ireland, Norway and Spain.
But Israel’s war on Gaza continues to divide European Union members. At one end of the spectrum, countries like Germany, Hungary and the Netherlands firmly support Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. On the other hand, countries like Slovenia, which have strongly criticized Israel’s military conduct, call on the international community to hold Israeli leaders to account.
While condemning both Hamas and Israel, Ljubljana has consistently advocated a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, the removal of restrictions on humanitarian access, and bold steps toward a two-state solution.
In October 2023, Slovenia joined Belgium, France, Ireland, Luxembourg and Spain in voting for an immediate ceasefire at the UN General Assembly.
When Israeli authorities accused the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) of allowing Hamas to infiltrate the organization, which resulted in the United States and other Western governments cutting off support for the agency, the Slovenia not only continued to finance it, but also increased contributions.
Before the International Court of Justice, Slovenia participated in the South African genocide case.
Last month, as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, Slovenia voted in favor of a draft resolution to grant the State of Palestine full UN membership.
And earlier this month, Slovenia voted in favor of a resolution calling for Palestine’s full UN membership, which the UN General Assembly approved by an overwhelming majority.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tanja Fajon, framed the recognition of Palestine’s statehood as a “moral duty”.
“Slovenia is neither pro-Israel nor pro-Palestine, we understand and sympathize with people on both sides,” Eva Tomic, climate policy and human rights advisor to the president of Slovenia, told Al Jazeera.
“People on both sides deserve to live side by side in peace and security and the role of the international community is to help them achieve this.”
She explained that, as a relatively small state, Slovenia “firmly believes” in the merits of multilateral cooperation.
“We are not burdened with any colonial historical past, we listen to other parts of the world.
“The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one of the oldest and most difficult, but for the first time in many decades, global public opinion is changing. Students in Slovenia are also protesting for justice and peace,” she added.
Bostjan Videmsek, an award-winning foreign correspondent and war reporter for DELO, a Slovenian daily newspaper, does not believe that Slovenia is necessarily one of the main defenders of Palestinians in the EU.
“It’s just the fact that a large part of the EU, namely Germany, is on the wrong side of history [again], and there is a lack of political courage in some other countries, including the European Commission,” he told Al Jazeera. “What Slovenia supports is the basics of the basics. Neither more nor less.”
Long inclined to support the rights of others to self-determination, including Palestinians, Slovenia’s foreign policy focuses on respect for international law and multilateral coordination.
In practice, this means protecting small states from more powerful actors and countries.
“Without international law in international relations, there would be a lawless ‘jungle’ in which larger states would be free to impose their will on smaller states,” said Primoz Sterbenc, assistant professor at the University of Primorska in Koper, Slovenia. Al Jazeera. “As Israel has continually and flagrantly violated international law since 1967… [occupied Palestinian territories]thus destroying the possibility of establishing a sovereign and viable Palestinian state, Slovenia was somehow forced to criticize Israel.”
Leaders of nations recognizing the creation of a Palestinian state for the first time argue that it is an essential step towards a two-state solution.
“Any future negotiations on all remaining issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict need to be resolved between the two states and not between the occupying force and the occupied as is the case now,” Tomic said.
The Slovenian embassy in the US, in a statement to Al Jazeera, said: “Our plan makes clear that Palestinians have the right to self-determination, statehood and survival… Strict respect for international law can put an end to unacceptable and unsustainable situation in the Middle East”.
‘It’s easy for Slovenians to feel empathy’
Slovenia’s history is relevant to Ljubljana’s foreign policy towards Palestine; His stance on statehood can be partially explained in the context of Josip Broz Tito’s role as leader of the Non-Aligned Movement and Yugoslavia’s stance towards the conflict.
The collapse of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, in the midst of the 10-day war in 1991, informed some Slovenes’ perspectives on Palestine.
“Most Slovenes still remember the 1991 war of independence against a much larger and stronger Yugoslav army,” said Novica Mihajlovic, journalist and editor at DELO. “It is easy for Slovenians to feel empathy for whichever side in any international conflict is being attacked by a bigger, stronger adversary.”
Before independence in 1991, Slovenia was under the rule of other states and was part of larger federal states.
Slovenia’s decision to obtain statehood resulted from its “own civic quest for democracy and human rights,” Tomic said. “The realization of our own right to self-determination determines our position not to deny that right to others. This helps explain Slovenia’s position at the UN and EU on the human rights situation in Palestine.”
Slovenia’s initiative was welcomed by several nations in the Global South – a term that means Latin America, Africa and much of Asia.
“I sincerely hope that this terrible war in Gaza serves to deepen our sense of humanity, regardless of where in the world we live,” Tomic said. “All people, regardless of our ethnicity, race or descent, deserve the same human rights and I believe this is the essence of our shared understanding with both the Arab world and the Global South: that human rights cannot be a privilege dos bem -off West or North only.”
However, as more countries recognize Palestinian statehood, many observers question whether the pressure will have any effect.
Sterbenc warned that recognition could be “counterproductive,” saying it could create a “false impression” of justice without changing the reality on the ground.
The Slovenian academic said recognizing Palestine could risk creating conditions whereby EU members escape their obligations under international law. He said the bloc should go further and start imposing economic sanctions on Israel at EU level.
“The EU should reconsider its traditional practice of financing the Palestinian Authority… as this practice has only taken away from Israel the financial burden that this state should bear as an occupying power,” Sterbenc told Al Jazeera.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
