Madrid - Spain, Ireland and Norway will formally recognize a Palestinian state on Tuesday.
The three European countries believe their initiative has a strong symbolic impact, which will likely encourage others to follow suit.
They also point to Norway and Spain's historic role in advancing Israel-Palestinian peace efforts: in 1991, the two sides sat down together for the first time at a Madrid peace conference that paved the way for the 1993 Oslo Accords.
"Recognising the state of Palestine is about justice for the Palestinian people," Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said on Monday in Brussels.
It was also "the best guarantee of security for Israel and essential for reaching peace in the region", he said alongside his Irish and Norwegian counterparts.
The plans were unveiled last week in a coordinated announcement by their prime ministers, with formal recognition to take place in all three countries on Tuesday.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will give an address at 0630 GMT before his cabinet meets to adopt a decree recognizing Palestinian statehood.
The Irish government will also meet during the morning.
- Differences within the EU -
Norway informed Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa at the weekend that its recognition would also take effect on Tuesday. Although Slovenia has also started the process of recognizing a Palestinian state, the issue has provoked sharp disagreement within the 27-nation European Union. Spain and Ireland are part of the bloc.
For decades, formal recognition of a Palestinian state has been seen as the endgame of a negotiated peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
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