Yahoo – AFP,
December 3, 2014
Paris (AFP) - French lawmakers voted Tuesday in favour of recognising Palestine as a state, sparking an immediate angry reaction from Israel which said such "unilateral measures" would harm efforts towards Middle East peace.
 |
| French lawmakers set for Palestine recognition vote |
Paris (AFP) - French lawmakers voted Tuesday in favour of recognising Palestine as a state, sparking an immediate angry reaction from Israel which said such "unilateral measures" would harm efforts towards Middle East peace.
Following
hot on the heels of similar votes in Britain and Spain, French MPs voted 339 to
151 in favour of a motion urging the government to recognise the state of
Palestine as a way of achieving a "definitive resolution of the
conflict."
The vote --
which is non-binding on the government but highly symbolic -- comes as European
countries seek alternative ways to restart the stalled Middle East process.
Sweden's
government has gone even further, officially recognising Palestine as a state
in a controversial move that prompted Israel to recall its ambassador.
But the
French vote result still prompted a swift and angry response from Tel Aviv,
which said it would send the "wrong message" to the region and would
be counterproductive to the drive towards peace.
"Israel
believes that the vote in the National Assembly... will reduce the possibility
of achieving a deal between Israel and the Palestinians," its embassy in
Paris said in a statement.
A solution
to the conflict will be achieved "only with honest and direct talks
between the parties and not by unilateral measures taken by one of the parties
or by third parties," it said.
The
Palestinian leadership, meanwhile, expressed its "gratitude" for the
vote and urged Paris to "translate its parliament's vote into
action".
France
will 'do its duty'
Palestinians
are seeking to achieve statehood in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank
with east Jerusalem as the capital.
With little
progress on reaching a settlement, they have been lobbying foreign powers for
international recognition.
The
Palestinian Authority estimates that 135 countries have now recognised
Palestine as a state, although that number is disputed.
During a
debate on the issue Friday, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Paris would
recognise Palestine if diplomatic efforts failed again and urged a resolution
to the Middle East conflict within two years.
France is
spearheading a drive at the United Nations to unfreeze the moribund peace
process and the Palestinian envoy to the UN said earlier Tuesday a draft
resolution could be submitted to the Security Council by mid-December.
Riyad
Mansour told AFP the text was set to lay out a timeframe for negotiations on a
final peace deal and possibly a deadline for Palestinian statehood.
It would
also pave the way for a last-ditch international conference that France has
offered to host.
This
European initiative was expected to be discussed in Brussels when US Secretary
of State John Kerry holds talks with European ministers during this week's NATO
meeting.
"If
these efforts fail. If this last attempt at a negotiated settlement does not
work, then France will have to do its duty and recognise the state of Palestine
without delay and we are ready to do that," Fabius told MPs on Friday.
'Momentum
will grow'
At a
pan-European level, the European Parliament is expected to hold a vote later
this month on recognising Palestine and EU foreign policy supremo Federica
Mogherini is also pushing for the creation of a Palestine state.
"Governments
and parliaments are taking action. That momentum will grow," said United
Nations chief Ban Ki-moon last month.
However,
lawmakers in Paris were more divided on the issue than their British and
Spanish counterparts, reflecting the sensitivity of the debate in France, which
is home to Europe's largest Jewish and Muslim communities.
Senior
lawmaker Christian Jacob of the opposition UMP party told MPs ahead of the
vote: "Who are we kidding? We are kidding the French people if we think
that the parliament will have any influence at all" on the peace process.
France was
the scene of several pro-Palestinian demonstrations during this summer's 50-day
offensive by the Israeli army in Gaza that killed more than 2,000 Palestinians
and dozens of Israelis.
Some of
these 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.
Related Articles:
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.