Greece Will Welcome Abbas with Recognition Resolution

• 12.18.2015, 17:25
•  Europe,  Near East,  World,  Info

Greek Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee submitted a draft resolution, asking the government to recognize Palestine as a state. The resolution has been drawn up by SYRIZA ahead of the visit of the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to Athens on December 21. Greece’s parliament is set to vote resolution on December 22, Greek News Agency Ekathimerini reports.

The non-binding resolution can be considered as more a symbolic gesture, as according to Greece, it aims at promoting the resumption of Palestinian-Israeli negotiations. 136 of the 193 member states of the United Nations have recognized the State of Palestine. During the recent years Palestinian Authority has been working actively to obtain international recognition both by the states and international organizations.

It should be noted that on November 29, 2012 the UN General Assembly de facto recognized the sovereign State of Palestine. Since then the recognition process has intensified. In 2014 the Swedish Parliament recognized the State of Palestine. Sweden became the first European country to recognize Palestine. Parliaments of the UK, France, Spain, Ireland, Belgium and Portugal also called their governments to recognize Palestine, as well as the European Parliament. In 2015 the Vatican officially recognized the existence of a Palestinian state. In October, in front of the United Nations in New York for the first time the flag of the Palestinian Authority was raised.

This wave of recognition tries to put pressure on both sides to start negotiations. This process, of course, worries Israel, which says that recognition should come after the two sides reach a two-state solution.