Barbados indicated on Friday its intention to recognise Palestine as an independent State says Minister of Foreign Affairs Kerrie Symmonds in talks that according to the official started in September last year.
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"Despite having said to the world that we would like to see a two-state solution, Barbados itself has never recognised the state of Palestine", said Symmonds reffering that Barbados has always advocated for the "two-state solution" before the UN since 1967.
The FM said there is an incongruity and inconsistency because "how can we say we want a two-state solution if we do not recognise Palestine as a state?”
Symmonds added that a document outlining the measure is now before the Cabinet, which will approve it or not, in a bid to correct an “error that we have made through the years”, mistake that Symmonds calified as "ironic."
“We had these discussions with Palestine in September of last year prior to this eruption of the difficulties between Israel and Hamas and Gaza, so it preceded that event,” said the Barbadian FM at the time he informed that the Ministry has formally reached out to the Palestinian Authority to signal Barbados’ intent on formal recognition.
The Palestine State recognition it is expected to be very welcomed by the local pro-Palestinian campaign group, the Caribbean Against Apartheid in Palestine (CAAP), which has been pushing for Prime Minister Mia Mottley, who has previously condemned the genocide in Gaza, to do more to stop the Israeli siege.
Declared a state by the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) in November 1988, and accepted as a UN non-member observer state in 2012, the State of Palestine has so far been recognised by 140 of the UN’s 193 member states.