Spanish
members of parliament have voted nearly unanimously to exert pressure on Madrid
to recognize Palestine as a state. The non-binding vote took place hours after
a brutal attack on a synagogue in Jerusalem.
Deutsche Welle, 19 Nov 2014
The Spanish
Parliament voted late Tuesday in favor of recognizing Palestine.
MPs voted
319:2 in favor of draft legislation demanding that Prime Minister Mariano
Rajoy's government recognizes Palestine as a state.
The bill
said the "only solution to the conflict is the coexistence of two states,
Israel and Palestine."
Rajoy's
conservative People's Party was widely in favor of the bill, but set a
requirement that a negotiation process between the two guarantee peace and
security first.
European
countries recognize Palestine
The
parliament also called on the government to pressure the European Union to
recognize Palestine as well. At the end of October, Sweden became the firstwestern EU member to recognize it. Israel, in turn, recalled its ambassador
from Stockholm.
Britain and
Ireland held similar non-binding votes last month and French lawmakers will
vote on November 28.
Poland,
Hungary and Slovakia had recognized Palestine before they became EU members.
The UK parliament is also considering a vote on recognition of Palestine, which
is currently recognized by around 130 countries worldwide.
Increasing
violence
Tuesday's
vote came after an attack at a Jerusalem synagogue, where two Palestinians
armed with a gun and meat cleavers killed four people before being shot dead. A
police officer also died. The vote had been planned to take place before the
attack.
"It is
not binding, it does not set a timeline for the recognition, it gives the
government the margin to proceed with the recognition when it feels it will be
opportune," Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo told
reporters in Brussels on Monday ahead of the vote.
"If we want to be effective this recognition must be
done in coordination with the European Union," he said.
sb/se (dpa, AFP)
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