The Portuguese parliament passed a resolution Friday recommending that the government recognize a Palestinian state, the portuguese newspaper Correio da Manhã reported.Only nine members of the 230-member Assembly of the Republic voted against the resolution, which was jointly sponsored by the country's three largest parties: Social Democratic Party, the People's Party (both right-wing parties despite their names), and the Socialist Party.
The resolution called on Portugal’s government to "recognize, in coordination with the European Union, the State of Palestine as an independent and sovereign state, in accordance with the principles of international law," Correio da Manhã reported.
Just three days before, Ireland's lower house of parliament approved a similar nonbinding resolution calling on the Irish government to formally recognize the state of Palestine. This resolution, sponsored by the left-wing Sinn Fein party, passed unanimously. A similar resolution was passed by Ireland’s upper house of Parliament, the Seanad, in October.
France's upper house of parliament voted 154-146 in December in favor of a non-binding resolution "inviting" the French government to recognize Palestine. The country's lower house of parliament adopted a similar measure a week earlier but by a much larger margin.
Spanish lawmakers also urged their government to recognize Palestine as a state in November, albeit only when the Palestinians and Israel negotiate a solution to the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In October, The British parliament voted Monday in favor of a non-binding motion to recognize the state of Palestine, in a majority vote of 274-12.
The Swedish government officially recognized Palestine as a state in October.
| None of them have to live with the result. |