BELGIUM LAWMAKERS WORK TO RECOGNIZE PALESTINIAN STATE

Brussels, 11 Shafar 1436/4 December 2014 (MINA) – Belgian legislators are working on a resolution to recognize a Palestinian state but the government says any timing to proceed will depend on European Union action.

Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders said he first will push for a new EU initiative to bring Israel and the Palestinian authorities back to the negotiating table to reinvigorate the peace process, alarabiya.net quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting, Thursday.

Belgian legislators are completing work on a text and it was still unclear when the resolution would be tabled, said an official from a leading coalition party, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the process was continuing.

On Tuesday, France’s lower house already voted to urge the government to recognize a Palestinian state. On Oct. 30, Sweden became the first western European nation to recognize Palestinian statehood.

The French parliament’s vote over the recognition of Palestine as a state comes hot on the heels of a similar resolution approved by a number of European nations over the past months.

On November 18, Spanish lawmakers overwhelmingly approved a non-binding resolution on recognizing a Palestinian state. Britain and Ireland also passed similar non-binding motions.

On October 30, Sweden went a step further and officially recognized the state of Palestine, drawing stringent criticism from Israel and the United States.

On November 29, 2012, the 193-member United Nations General Assembly voted to upgrade Palestine’s status to non-member observer state.

Palestinians are seeking to create an independent state on the territories of the West Bank, East al-Quds (Jerusalem), and the Gaza Strip and are demanding that Israel withdraw from the occupied Palestinian territories. Israel, however, has refused to return to the 1967 borders and is unwilling to discuss the issue of al-Quds. (T/P011/P3)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)