(VOVworld)- The French Parliament has recently adopted a resolution recognizing Palestine as an independent nation. After Sweden, the UK, Ireland, and Spain, France became the fifth European country to support Palestine in setting up its own state. Given the deadlock in peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine, support for an independent Palestine is considered a way to boost the peace process in the Middle East. 

French Parliament vote to recognize the Palestinian state- Photo: EPA

French lawmakers voted 339 to 151 on Tuesday in favor of a resolution asking the French government to recognize the state of Palestine, the last resort for the conflict between Palestine and Israel which has lasted for decades. Though it was a symbolic action and will not immediately impact French foreign policy, it suggests that Europe is losing patience with the stalled peace process.

International community joins efforts to promote peace

On the threshold of the vote, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said because the peace process is still stalled France wants to recognize an independent Palestinian state without any more negotiation. During a recent visit to the Gaza strip, EU High Representative for Security and External Relations Federica Mogherini said the people of Gaza and the world community want to end the war in the region. It’s time for the world to take actions to prevent the war from lasting another 40 years. UN Chief Ban Ki Moon admitted that the failure to achieve a political solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict suggests that many countries should recognize the Palestinian state.

Since the Oslo agreement was signed 20 years ago, all efforts to achieve a lasting peace in the region have failed. Following the failure of the US-funded initiative last April, the situation has become almost frozen.

New approaches to two-state solution

The Palestinian Authority has always sought statehood for the West Bank and Gaza strip and wants East Jerusalem for its capital. After the UN General Assembly accepted Palestine as a non-member observer state in 2012, Western countries, who are US allies, urged a renewal of peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine. But since the US failed to restore the peace talks, European countries have lost patience with Israel’s policies. After Eastern European countries Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Hungary, Malta, Poland and Romania recognized the Palestinian state, 5 Western European countries have followed suit.

At present, France is considering the UN Security Council’s proposed resolution, under which France will organize an international conference on Middle East peace with the participation of UN Security Council members, and EU and Arab League countries. The conference will promote long-term peace based on the co-existence of two sovereign and democratic states living in peace and security and separated by the border delineated in 1967.

The list of countries recognizing the Palestinian State is getting longer. The prolonged conflict jeopardized security throughout the region. The US, Israel’s close ally, has to find another approach to the conflict.