Portugal Parliament Urges Gov’t to Recognize Palestinian State

Local Editor

Portugal's parliament on Friday adopted a resolution calling on the government to recognize the Palestinian state within the so-called "pre-1967 borders", following a growing number of similar votes around Europe.

Parliament's motion, filed jointly by the ruling center-right majority and the opposition Socialist party, proposed "recognizing, in coordination with the European Union, the state of Palestine as independent and sovereign."

A total of 203 out of 217 Portuguese lawmakers approved the motion on Friday according to Fadi al-Zaben, an advisor to the Palestinian diplomatic mission in Portugal.

He added that nine lawmakers had voted against the motion, while five others abstained.

Meanwhile, Portugal's Foreign Minister Rui Machete said after the vote the government "will choose the moment best suited" to recognize the Palestinian state.

But he said the government was "sensitive to parliament's call" that ""Israelis" and Palestinians live together on a long-term basis in a "peaceful" way."
France's upper house voted Thursday to urge its government to recognize a state of Palestine, which came hard on the heels of a similar motion in the Irish parliament on Wednesday.

Lawmakers in Britain and Spain have already passed their own motions and Sweden has gone even further, officially recognizing Palestine as a state, in a move that prompted a furious "Israel" to recall its ambassador.

On December 18, the Brussels-based European Parliament is expected to vote on a proposed resolution recognizing the state of Palestine.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team