Greek parliament urges MPs to recognize Palestine

Reports say the Greece’s parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee has unanimously called on the Greek government to recognize Palestinian statehood.

Furthermore, The New Arab news argues that the two-state solution idea is gradually fading in the Palestinian territories with 51 per cent of Palestinians believing that their dream of a self-determined Palestinian state in the next five years is far- from realization.

Tsipras announced Monday after talks with Abbas that Greece would no longer refer on official documents to the Palestinian Authority, but rather to Palestine.

Member states that voted against the resolution included Canada Federated States of Micronesia Israel Marshall Islands and the United States.

Christmas in the Holy Land has come at a particularly hard time in which “international protection is desperately needed to protect the Palestinian population”, Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas said in his holiday message.

Last month, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras visited the country for the first time.

“Greece was committed to the installation of a viable, independent and sovereign Palestinian state based on borders set in 1967 and with east Jerusalem as its capital, a country that will coexist peacefully with Israel”, Tsipras said.

And since 2010, Greece’s relations with Israel have only grown warmer.

However, the resolution is nonbinding and thus does not constitute a full government recognition of Palestine.