Iceland has become the first western European country to recognize Palestine as an independent state.
The parliament of Iceland had passed a motion with 38 of 63 votes in favor of a resolution to recognize Palestine “as an independent and sovereign state” based on the internationally recognized borders existing before the six-day war of 1967.
The resolution, which coincided with the UN’s annual day of solidarity with the Palestinian people, recognized the Palestine Liberation Organization as the legal authority for a Palestinian state and urged Israel and Palestine to reach a peace agreement.
The vote comes shortly after the Palestinians successfully gained admission to the UN’s cultural agency, UNESCO . Iceland was among 11 European UNESCO members to support the move.
However, the suspected failure to win the required support of nine of the UN Security Council’s 15 members, and a promise from the USA that it would veto any council resolution endorsing membership, threatens to stall the move for full UN membership.
In a message read out by Palestinian UN observer Riyad Mansour, Abbas said Palestine’s application to join the UN “is our legitimate right” based on the 1947 UN resolution to partition Palestine into two states.
Icelandic MP Amal Tamimi, who was born in Palestine, welcomed her parliament’s move as a first step.
The Guardian / ABC Flash Point Zionist News 2018.
