Palestinian authorities urge European nations to recognize statehood

The Palestinian government called Tuesday on France and all other European countries to recognize a Palestinian state immediately, without waiting for progress to be achieved in the peace process.

The government said in a press statement following its weekly cabinet meeting that such a move would be considered as a "message to Israel that the international community is determined to implement its resolutions and that it is no longer possible to keep silent about Israel's breaches to international conventions and ignoring international legitimacy."

The Palestinian cabinet welcomed the French initiative to hold an international peace conference with clear goals and practical steps based on international law and legitimacy resolutions to end the occupation and establish the Palestinian state within a binding time frame and means of monitoring.

The Palestinian presidency welcomed the French Foreign Minister Lauren Fabius's statements last Friday saying Paris will relaunch its efforts to hold an international conference based on the two-states solution.

Fabius said that if the initiative is failed, France will recognize the Palestinian state.

Israel considered the French statements as giving incentive for the Palestinians not to take the peace talks seriously, while Washington expressed reservations over the French statement.

The latest round of negotiations between Palestinians and Israel stopped in April 2014, after nine months of talks under the patronage of the United States, without arriving at a breakthrough to the decades long conflict. Enditem