The Italian Parliament
(ANSAmed) - ROME - The Italian parliament on Friday passed a motion presented by the Democratic Party (PD) calling on the government to back a recognition of the State of Palestine. The text, voted in favor of by the Left Ecology Freedom (SEL) party as well, urges the government to support the establishment of a Palestinian state that ''lives in peace, security and prosperity alongside the state of Israel, on the basis of reciprocal recognition and a reciprocal commitment to ensure that citizens live safe from all violence and acts of terrorism''. The government is thus obliged to ''promote the recognition of Palestine as a democratic and sovereign state within 1967 borders and with Jerusalem as a shared capital, taking into consideration the legitimate concerns and interests of the State of Israel''. The passing of the motion - 300 in favor, 45 against and 59 abstentions - was welcomed with applause in the parliamentary chamber. The parliament also passed a document with 237 in favor, 84 against and 64 abstentions that calls on the government to ''promote the achieving of a political agreement between Fatah and Hamas which - through the recognition of the State of Israel and the abandoning of violence - leads to the conditions for the recognition of a Palestinian state''. The Israeli embassy in Rome released a statement saying that it approved of the Italian parliament's decision ''not to recognize the Palestinian state and to have opted to support direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians, on the basis of the two-state principle, as the right way to achieve peace''.
(ANSAmed).
