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MALTA did the right thing on Monday to formally recognise the Palestinian state with all the diplomatic and legal trappings this entails. After stalling for more than a year, Prime Minister Robert Abela finally took the next logical step in Mal- ta's five-decades-old relationship with the Palestini- an people. Support for the Palestinian cause has been a con- stant principle in Maltese foreign policy since the 1970s. The commitment to the Palestinian cause is one of the few issues where cross-party support has endured. Recognition of Palestinian statehood follows the bold steps taken over the years to strengthen the re- lationship between Malta and Palestine. From Dom Mintoff's invitation to the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) to open an office in Malta in 1974 to Guido de Marco's gesture to visit Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the West Bank and Jor- dan on his first overseas trip as president of the UN General Assembly in 1991, and George Vella's efforts to bring Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy together during the Eu- ro-Mediterranean Conference held in Malta in 1997, Malta's support for a viable Palestinian state along- side Israel has never wavered. Indeed, in 1988, Malta's Permanent Representative at the UN in New York, Alexander Borg Olivier, pre- sented a letter to the organisation's secretary general in which the Maltese Government affirmed its "rec- ognition of the right of the Palestinian people to a state of their own". And since 2009, Malta has had a representative office in the Palestinian-administered Ramallah in the West Bank. But Malta's commitment to the Palestinian cause was never exclusionary. Malta has always maintained good diplomatic relations with Israel and reaffirmed the Jewish people's right to live in peace and security. Malta has consistently supported the two-state solu- tion as defined by the UN. Palestinians and Israelis have a right to live in dig- nity, prosper, enjoy peace and live securely in their homes, their streets, their cities. But there is no mis- taking who is on the receiving end in this equation. Palestinians continue to suffer oppression as they see their land in the West Bank being eaten away by il- legal Israeli settlements and Gaza being raised to the ground. Malta's recognition of a Palestinian state will not change the course of history in the Middle East. Nei- ther will it materially improve things on the ground for downtrodden Palestinians. But it does represent a significant gesture of solidarity with a people that has been suffering occupation, displacement and humili- ation for more than 70 years. The Israeli narrative has been to depict recognition of Palestinian statehood as a gift to Hamas and an endorsement of terrorism. This is just spin, intended to confuse issues and perpetuate the status quo. By recognising a Palestinian state, Malta is not en- dorsing terrorism, or the murderous actions of Ha- mas. It is definitely not a gift to Hamas and it is nei- ther the negation of Israel's right to enjoy peace and security. On the contrary, it is an act of goodwill that recognises the Palestinian people's right to live free in a prosperous, peaceful and viable state. Hamas is not Palestine, just as the Taliban are not Afghanistan. Indeed, Malta outrightly condemned the October 2023 Hamas attacks on Israeli commu- nities; has consistently called for the unconditional release of all hostages held by Hamas in Gaza; and is insisting, Hamas play no part in the Palestinian state. It would be a mistake to conflate the Palestinian people with Hamas. But Israel's current government, propped up by extremist elements that would rather see Palestinians removed completely from their land, has no interest in drawing this distinction. Conflating Hamas with all Palestinians makes it easier to justify the genocide going on in Gaza and the occupation of Palestinian lands by Jewish settlers taking place in the West Bank. Israel's actions are intended to make the two-state solution unviable, leaving them in control of all ter- ritory between the Jordan River and the Mediterra- nean Sea. Last August, Israeli Finance Minister Bez- alel Smotrich said the idea of a Palestinian state was "being erased" when unveiling the construction of a controversial settlement outside East Jerusalem that would cut off the contiguity of any future Palestinian state. It is within this context that recognition of Palestin- ian statehood should be followed by concrete steps to suspend trade with Israel, impose punishing sanc- tions on extremist government ministers and impose an arms embargo. The EU may not be politically in- fluential in Israel but it certainly has the economic clout to put pressure, if it can find the will to do so. Difficult as the circumstances are today, the two- state solution remains the only viable solution in the long term. This is the message Malta has always put forward in international forums and one which it must continue pressing on. Recognising Palestine is not a gift to Hamas maltatoday MaltaToday, MediaToday Co. Ltd, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 MANAGING EDITOR: SAVIOUR BALZAN EXECUTIVE EDITOR: KURT SANSONE EDITOR: PAUL COCKS Tel: (356) 21 382741-3, 21 382745-6 Website: www.maltatoday.com.mt E-mail: dailynews@mediatoday.com.mt domestic 11 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 24 SEPTEMBER 2025 EDITORIAL that when the Commissioner of Police proceeds against an aggressor on his own initia- tive then the parties involved have less or no say, if to halt the proceedings or not. The scenar- io would be different if the same case would have been initiated by a com- plaint by the victim. Today's reality sees magistrates who specialise in this very delicate area of law, who work with great challenges and with impressive amounts of cases to decide upon. Each day, people are arraigned in court on domestic violence following a risk assessment report which is conducted by Aġenzija Appoġġ. With all the inroads and investment made in this field no one can ever know what happens behind closed doors. Domestic violence law operates with a double safety valve—the complainant may choose to pull the plug on proceed- ings to protect the honour of the fami- ly or fix what is fixable, while the court retains ultimate discretion to override such a request when necessary. With this two-fold mechanism any familiar particularities with a trace of "Opuz flu" are flagged, allowing the alarm bells to be rung properly to avoid even the slightest "Opuz bruise."