ROME (PIC)– Italy’s Chamber of Deputies Friday backed a non-binding resolution that encourages the government to recognize Palestine as a state and push for resuming stalled peace negotiations.
Proposed by the ruling center-left Democratic Party the motion vowed to “unconditionally support the goal of establishing a Palestinian state living side by side in peace security and prosperity next to the state of Israel.”
The Chamber of Deputies voted by 300 to 45 to pass the motion presented by Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s Democratic Party (PD) “to promote the recognition of Palestine as a democratic state”.
“The government considers the parliamentary initiative to promote the recognition of the state of Palestine positively and will make every effort to ensure that negotiations between the parties reopen” said Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni addressing the House moments before the vote.
Overlooking the symbolic significance of the motion the Israeli embassy in Rome pretended to go into raptures over the resolution claiming in a statement: “We positively welcome the Italian parliament choosing not to recognize a Palestinian state and opting to support direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian[s] on the basis of the principal of two states as the right way to pursue peace.”
