Rob HorganTHE Spanish government has announced that it will soon hold a vote on the recognition of a Palestinian state.
The decision comes after UK parliament voted in favour of a non-binding motion supporting recognition of a Palestinian state on October 13.
A Spanish vote would not alter government policy, but it does carry symbolic value.
France’s foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, has said that Paris, or any other government, should only recognize a Palestinian state if doing so would help achieve peace, not as a symbolic gesture.
Palestinians continue to pursue international recognition after decades of fighting Israeli forces in Gaza.
Now that Spain has won a seat on the U.N. Security Council perhaps they can quickly show some statesmanship and vote in favour of this, (admittedly symbolic) motion. Ignore what the French say, anything is better than nothing.