Ukraine in Arabic | Belgium to recognize Palestine

04.12.2014 - 14:50 #Palestine, #Belgium, #EU, #Israel, #recognizing, #Didier Reynders

Belgium could become the second European Union member to officially recognize the Palestinian state

KYIV/Ukraine in Arabic/ After Sweden, Belgium would be the second EU member state to recognize Palestinian statehood. A resolution on Palestine is now on the agenda of Belgium's main political parties, as the Belgium parliament is expected to debate the resolution of whether to accept the motion to recognize the state of Palestine or not. There is no date set yet to announce the Belgium government's acceptance of the draft text for the planned motion. The vote in the Belgium parliament came after a similar vote by the British House of Commons, France's lower house of parliament, Ireland's senate and Sweden's decision to recognize a Palestinian state.

Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders said he first will push for a new EU initiative to bring Israel and the Palestinian authorities back to the negotiating table to reinvigorate the peace process.

Belgian legislators are completing work on a text and it was still unclear when the resolution would be tabled, said an official from a leading coalition party, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the process was continuing.

On Tuesday, France’s lower house already voted to urge the government to recognize a Palestinian state. On Oct. 30, Sweden became the first western European nation to recognize Palestinian statehood.

In light of the increasing anger among EU member states regarding violence directed towards Palestinians, the EU recently announced restrictive sanctions against Israel. Palestinians have become increasingly vulnerable due to Israeli's aggressive policies towards the Arab community, both on the Gaza Strip and in Jerusalem, and tension flared up after the Jewish state bill, which eliminates the democratic character of Israeli state, was proposed. The loss of Israel's democratic nature would likely cause the Palestinian community to face growing discrimination.

alarabiya.net