Greek parliament has unanimously adopted a resolution urging its government to recognize the Palestinian state.
Greek parliament has unanimously adopted a resolution urging its government to recognize the Palestinian state.
The historic resolution was adopted in the presence of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras at the parliament Tuesday.
In his speech before the Greek parliament, Abbas said the Greek government's step towards recognizing the State of Palestine would be recorded in history.
"Greek parliament's initiative further contributes to the foundation of the Palestinian state," he said.
"We are very proud that we are here at the bastion of the Greek democracy," he said expressing the gratitude of the Palestinian people, noting the recent visit of the Greek prime minister to Palestine and hoped to welcome the president of Greece and the Greek parliament's president in the near future.
In comments made before the decision, Abbas in a reception hosted by the president of the House, Nikos Voutsis, expressed his appreciation for the recognition.
"We feel that we are in our house, the house of Greek democracy, and we thank you very much and, God willing, further steps will follow for strengthening of the relations of the Greek and Palestinian people,” he said.
In 2012, Palestine was recognized by the UN as a non-member observer state.
Two years later, an unprecedented international support for the symbolic recognition of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders was voiced out.
In October 2014, Sweden officially recognized the State of Palestine, becoming the first European Union state to take such a move.
In this, however, Sweden was the eighth European state to recognize the Palestinian state after the Czech Republic; Hungary; Poland; Bulgaria; Romania; Malta, and Greek Cypriot administration, which made their recognition some time before they became European Union members.
In October 2014, Britain's House of Commons adopted a non-binding resolution, urging the government to recognize the state of Palestine.
A month later, the Spanish Parliament voted with an overwhelming majority on a non-binding resolution, urging Madrid to recognize a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders.
France followed suit on Dec. 2, 2014, after a majority of French lawmakers approved a non-binding resolution, calling on Paris to recognize the Palestinian state.
On Dec. 11, 2014,, the Irish parliament adopted a non-binding bill, urging the Irish government to recognize Palestine. A day later, the Portuguese parliament took a similar step.
In February 2015, the parliaments of Belgium and Italy adopted similar resolutions.
The overwhelming majority of countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America have also recognized the state of Palestine, making up most of the 135 countries who had taken the move.
