Spain to Hold Symbolic Palestinian Vote

Local Editor

Following UK and Sweden, Spain is to join France in holding vote to recognize a Palestinian state.

Spain's parliament plans to hold a largely symbolic vote next week on a resolution to recognize a Palestinian state.

The non-binding resolution, presented by the Socialist opposition party, will be debated in parliament on Tuesday, and it appears the governing conservatives will support it.

It would follow moves in other European countries intended to increase pressure for recognizing a Palestinian state.

Britain and Ireland approved similar motions last month. Sweden's new left-leaning government went a step further and officially recognized a Palestinian state on Oct. 30.

French lawmakers will vote on November 28 on a proposal by the Socialist Party urging the government to recognize Palestine as a state, a parliamentary source said Wednesday.

The non-binding but highly symbolic vote would follow a similar vote in the British parliament and after Sweden announced it formally recognized the state of Palestine.

A draft of the proposal states that the lower house National Assembly "invites the French government to use the recognition of the state of Palestine as an instrument to gain a definitive resolution of the conflict".

France will "obviously at a certain moment recognize the Palestinian state," Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius saidon Saturday.

"The question is when and how? Because this recognition must be useful for efforts to break the deadlock and contribute to a final resolution of the conflict," added Fabius.

British lawmakers voted overwhelmingly on October 13 in favor of a non-binding motion to "recognize the state of Palestine ".

Sweden announced on October 30 it officially recognized the state of Palestinian.

Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom said Sweden, fulfilling a promise made when the Social Democratic-led government took office earlier this month, believes the Palestinians have met the criteria under international law for such recognition.

"There is a territory, a people and government," she told reporters in Stockholm, adding that Sweden was the 135th country in the world to recognize a Palestinian state.

It is the third Western European nation to do so, after Malta and Cyprus. 

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team