EU Parliament votes to recognize Palestine

The European Parliament on Dec. 17 passed a resolution supporting recognition of Palestinian statehood and a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict. The resolution also launches a "Parliamentarians for Peace" initiative to bring together MEPs and MPs from the Israeli and Palestinian parliaments. The resolution passed by 498 votes to 88, with 111 abstentions. The statement said the parliament reiterated "its strong support for the two-state solution on the basis of the 1967 borders, with Jerusalem as the capital of both states, with the secure State of Israel and an independent, democratic, contiguous and viable Palestinian State living side by side in peace and security on the basis of the right of self-determination and full respect of international law." (Ma'an, Dec. 17)

The Hamas movement meanwhile applauded the European Union General Court for its decision to remove Hamas from its list of terrorist organizations. The Court ruled that the original listing of Hamas as a terrorist organization in 2001 was based not on sound legal judgements but on conclusions derived from the media and the Internet. But it stressed that the decision to remove Hamas was based on technical grounds and does "not imply any substantive assessment of the question of the classification of Hamas as a terrorist group." (Ma'an, Dec. 17)