Yahoo – AFP,
Eric Randolph, 12 Nov 2014
Paris (AFP) - French lawmakers will vote later this month on a proposal urging the government to recognise Palestine as a state, a parliamentary source said Wednesday, as diplomatic tensions continue to rise between Europe and Israel.
French protesters wave a Palestinian flag during a demonstration in Paris, on July 23, 2014 (AFP Photo/Stephane de Sakutin) |
Paris (AFP) - French lawmakers will vote later this month on a proposal urging the government to recognise Palestine as a state, a parliamentary source said Wednesday, as diplomatic tensions continue to rise between Europe and Israel.
The
non-binding but highly symbolic vote on November 28 was proposed by the ruling
Socialist party, and follows a similar resolution by the British parliament and
an official decision to recognise Palestine by the Swedish government.
A draft of
the new 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".
European
leaders have shown signs of mounting impatience with Israel over its continued
settlement-building in Palestinian territories.
Criticism
has become more focused in the wake of this summer's 50-day offensive by the
Israeli army in Gaza that killed more than 2,000 Palestinians and dozens of
Israelis.
France saw
a spate of pro-Palestinian protests during the offensive.
Some turned
violent, with looters in July destroying Jewish businesses and shouting
anti-Israel obscenities in the Paris suburb of Sarcelles -- sometimes known as
"Little Jerusalem" for its large community of Sephardic Jews.
The Jewish
Agency for Israel, an advocacy group, said in September that more Jews had left
France for Israel than from any other country in 2014, blaming a "climate
of anti-Semitism."
Foreign
Minister Laurent Fabius acknowledged in an interview with AFP last week that
France would "obviously at a certain moment recognise the Palestinian
state."
"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," he added.
The French
parliamentary vote will come hot on the heels of a similar resolution to
"recognise the state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel as a
contribution to securing a negotiated two-state solution" approved by
British lawmakers on October 13.
Then Sweden
announced on October 30 it officially recognised the Palestinian state, a move
heavily criticised by Israel and the United States.
And on
Saturday, Europe's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini called for a
Palestinian state sharing Jerusalem as its capital with Israel.
The
Palestinian Authority estimates that 134 countries have now recognised
Palestine as a state, although the number is disputed and several recognitions
by what are now European Union member states date back to the Soviet era.
An AFP
count puts the number of states that recognise Palestine at 112.
France was
among 14 EU nations that voted in favour of granting Palestinian territories
observer status at the United Nations in November 2012.
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