MIDEAST-ISRAEL/PALESTINIANS-EP VOTE EU parliament backs compromise resolution on Palestinian state

Record ID: 328401

  • Title: MIDEAST-ISRAEL/PALESTINIANS-EP VOTE EU parliament backs compromise resolution on Palestinian state
  • Date: 17th December 2014
  • Summary: BRUSSELS BELGIUM (RECENT) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF EU COMMISSION BUILDING
  • Embargoed: 1st January 2015 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Belgium
  • Country: Belgium
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA3G0QEV7I7M0WGAZB1EGTL08BY
  • Story Text: The European Parliament adopted a resolution on Wednesday (December 17) to support Palestinian statehood in principle, in a compromise motion that did not go as far as some European national legislatures in backing immediate recognition of a Palestinian state.
    Following negotiations between the main parties, the motion supporting the principle of a two-state solution to the conflict carried by 498 votes to 88.
    Lawmakers on the left had originally wanted to urge the EU's 28 member states to immediately recognise Palestine without conditions.
    The resolution follows similar motions passed by parliaments in Sweden, Britain, France and Ireland that demonstrate growing European impatience with Israel and the stalled peace process.
    The vote came as an EU court overturned a decision to include Palestinian Islamist group Hamas to the European Union's terrorist list earlier on Wednesday.
    However, in its ruling, the bloc's second highest tribunal said member states could maintain their freeze on Hamas' assets for three months to allow time for further review or for an appeal to be launched.
    A spokesperson for EU diplomacy chief Federica Mogherini, Maja Kocijancic, said this ruling was based on procedural grounds and should not be seen as a political decision by the 28-member bloc.
    "We have taken note of this judgement and, of course, we respect the judgement of the Court. But this legal ruling is clearly based on procedural grounds. It does not imply any assessment by the Court of the substantive reasons for the designation of Hamas. It is a legal ruling of the Court. Not a political decision taken by the EU governments," Kocijancic said.
    Hamas holds sway in the Gaza Strip and its founding charter calls for the destruction of Israel. It has regularly battled Israel, most recently in a 50-day war this summer.
    Most Western countries, including the United States, have sided with Israel in declaring Hamas a terror organisation, pointing to years of indiscriminate rocket strikes launched from Gaza and waves of suicide attacks, primarily between 1993 and 2005.
    Hamas says it is a legitimate resistance movement and contested the European Union's decision in 2001 to include it on the EU terrorist list. It welcomed Wednesday's verdict.
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