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French lawmakers are planning to submit a motion to their parliament, asking their government to recognize the state of Palestine, weeks after British parliamentarians successfully passed a similar vote. The move follows the collapse of the peace process between Palestine and Israel after the conflict in Gaza, in which over 2,000 Palestinians were killed.
“The (lower house National) Assembly asks the French government to use recognition of the state of Palestine as an instrument to obtain a final settlement of the conflict”, the AFP quoted a provisional motion seen by its sources.
A meeting on the proposal will be held on Wednesday, with France’s Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and socialist senators planning a similar initiative expected to attend.
Fabius had last month acknowledged that France will eventually have to recognize a Palestinian state, but was looking for a time when the move will have a major impact. The lower house of the French parliament could vote on the issue within a few weeks, and while it is highly unlikely to change the government’s policy immediately, it will be very symbolic when coupled with the similar vote made by British lawmakers last month.
British parliamentarians had on October 13th voter overwhelmingly in favor of a non-binding vote to “recognize the state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel as a contribution to securing a negotiated two-state solution”.
The vote, which Israel had warned risked sabotaging prospects for peace, comes after the Swedish government announced that it will recognize the state of Palestine, becoming the first western European member nation of the EU to do so. According to Palestinian Authority estimates, 134 countries now recognize the state of Palestine; the statistic is disputed as several such “recognitions” were made by European member nations date back to the Soviet era.