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Irish government to accept motion on Palestine statehood

Arab-Israel Relations Materials 10 December 2014 03:07 (UTC +04:00)
The Irish government is to accept a motion calling on parliament to recognize Palestine’s statehood following similar moves by other European Union countries.
Irish government to accept motion on Palestine statehood

The Irish government is to accept a motion calling on parliament to recognize Palestine's statehood following similar moves by other European Union countries, Press TV reported.

The motion proposed by the opposition Sinn Fein party calls on the government to "officially recognize the State of Palestine, on the basis of the 1967 borders with East al-Quds (Jerusalem) as the capital, as established in UN resolutions."

The members of the lower house of parliament were due to discuss the motion on Tuesday, but a government spokesman said the bill would not be opposed.

The motion will also recognize that "continued Israeli settlement construction and extension activities in the West Bank is illegal and severely threatening the establishment of a viable Palestinian state."

Sweden is the only European country that has officially recognized Palestine's statehood, although several other parliaments of EU states such as Spain, Britain and France have also adopted similar bills, which demand that their governments recognize Palestine as a state.

Israel has been angered by the motions submitted to European parliaments.

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 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.

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