The conditions of Italy for the recognition of a Palestinian state. Meloni: “We must establish the correct priorities”
Giorgia Meloni, photo: Tiziana Fabi / AFP / Profimedia
Italy will recognize a Palestinian state only if all Israeli hostages are released, and the Hamas group is excluded from any role in its government, said Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, quoted by Reuters.
“I am not against the recognition of Palestine, but we must establish our correct priorities,” said Meloni, announcing that her government will present a motion in Parliament on this topic.
Speaking to the New York press, where he participates in the UN General Assembly, Meloni said that international pressure should be put more on Hamas than Israel, blaming the group for starting the war and blocking peace by refusing to teach the hostages.
Meloni runs a right -wing government that was among the strongest allies of Israel in the European Union and refused to take the example of other G7 countries, such as the United Kingdom, Canada and France, who recognized Palestine's state.
Meloni's statements occur the one day after large protests in Italy in favor of the Palestinian cause. Dockers on strike blocked the access roads to the ports in Italy, and violence appeared at a pro-Palestinian protest in the center of Milan, protest organized by unions against the Israel's offensive in Gaza.
The dochers claim that they want to prevent the use of Italy as a transit country for weapons and other equipment to Israel in the war with Hamas in Gaza.
Video Violence Pro-Palestinian manifestations in Italy. Milan station was temporarily occupied by protesters
The law enforcement used tear gas against the protesters who gathered around the Central Station in Milan.
Also, the Italian press writes that the demonstrators tried to stop the traffic on a highway near Bologna. In Naples, there were clashes with the police when the protesters forced the entrance to the station, some of them managing to reach the rails and thus cause delays in the traffic of trains.
Thousands of other people went out on the streets and other cities, the schools were closed and disturbances of public transport appeared. In Genoa, in the northwest of Italy, at a rally of several hundred people in the port area, Palestinian flags were waved. At Livorno the entrance to the port was blocked, and a similar protest took place in Trieste, in the northeast of the country.
