Report: Spanish parliament to vote on Palestinian state recognition
Report comes following vote by British lawmakers in favor of recognizing a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
By JPOST.COM STAFFPro-Palestinian demonstrators during a protest against Operation Protective edge, in Malaga, Spain, August 8, 2014.(photo credit: REUTERS)
The Spanish parliament is reportedly slated to vote on recognizing Palestinian statehood following suit of British lawmakers earlier in the week, according to Al Arabiya on Thursday.The report came following a vote in Britain’s House of Commons on Monday in favor of recognizing a Palestinian state alongside Israel.While the motion did not alter the government's stance on the issue, it carried symbolic value for Palestinians in their pursuit of statehood.Lawmakers in Britain's lower house of parliament voted by 274 to 12 to pass the non-binding motion stating."Britain does not classify "Palestine" as a state, but says it could do so at any time if it believed it would help peace efforts between the Palestinians and Israel. Government ministers were told to abstain and the non-binding vote did not force Britain to recognize a Palestinian state.Israel, meanwhile, dismissed the diplomatic significance of the symbolic vote by refusing to dignify it with a formal response from Jerusalem.Instead, its embassy in London issued a statement.“There should be no illusion that a unilateral call for premature recognition of Palestine advances peace in any way whatsoever. It fails to address the real obstacles to peace, including the Palestinian insistence on a ‘right of return,’ which undermines the very concept of two states for two peoples, as well as the need for genuine security arrangements to prevent further mass attacks on Israeli civilians,” the statement read.On Thursday, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said that Paris should recognize a Palestinian state only if doing so would help achieve peace, not as a symbolic gesture.Reuters and Tovah Lazaroff contributed to this report.
