RAMALLAH
The Palestinian Authority (PA) on Tuesday welcomed a vote by the French National Assembly (parliament) to recognize the state of Palestine, calling on the French government to follow suit.
"It is a courageous step in the right direction," the Palestinian Authority said in a statement cited by the official Wafa news agency.
The statement said that the French vote serves the future of the Mideast peace process, enhances the prospects for the two-state solution and the establishment of a Palestinian state on the pre-1967 borders.
On Tuesday, some 339 French MPs voted for a motion proposed by the Socialist group to recognize the state of Palestine, while 151 lawmakers voted against.
The French Senate is also expected to vote on a similar resolution on December 11.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius had earlier said that France would recognize Palestine as a state if peace efforts failed.
"If this last attempt at negotiation does not succeed, France will assume its responsibilities by recognizing the state of Palestine," Fabius said.
"France recognizes the State of Palestine; it is not a favor, it is a right," he said.
Peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators collapsed in April of this year over Israel's refusal to release a fourth group of Palestinian prisoners despite earlier pledges to do so.
The talks aimed to find a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the roots of which date back to 1917, when the British government, in the now-famous "Balfour Declaration," called for "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people."
Jewish immigration rose considerably under the British administration of Palestine, which was consolidated by a League of Nations "mandate" in 1922.
In 1948, with the end of the mandate, a new state – Israel – was declared inside historical Palestine.
As a result, some 700,000 Palestinians fled their homes, or were forcibly expelled, while hundreds of Palestinian villages and cities were razed to the ground by invading Jewish forces.
The Palestinian diaspora has since become one of the largest in the world. Palestinian refugees are currently spread across Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and other countries, while many have settled in refugee camps in the Palestinian West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Israel went on to occupy East Jerusalem and the West Bank during the 1967 Middle East War. It later annexed the holy city in 1980, claiming it as the capital of the self-proclaimed Jewish state – a move never recognized by the international community.
Palestinians want the establishment of an independent Palestinian state in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
www.aa.com.tr/en
