French lawmakers to debate recognition of State of Palestine

French lawmakers were scheduled to debate a motion on Friday urging the government to recognize Palestine as a state, amid growing European frustration at the moribund Middle East peace process.

The symbolic motion is expected to pass comfortably on Tuesday when the lower house of Parliament votes on the text proposed by the ruling Socialists.

The vote comes hot on the heels of a similar resolution approved by British lawmakers on Oct 13, Spanish MPs on Nov 18 and the formal recognition by Sweden on Oct 30.

The text "invites the French government to use the recognition of the State of Palestine as an instrument to gain a definitive resolution of the conflict".

It is nonbinding on the government, although French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said in a recent interview that France would "obviously at a certain moment recognize the State of Palestine".

The Socialist MP who drafted the text, Elisabeth Guigou, said the aim was to "reaffirm that the two-state solution is the best guarantee for peace".

"If we do not act now, there is a risk of entering into an irreversible cycle of violence and transforming this territorial conflict into a regional conflict," Guigou said.

Grave mistake

"Nothing would be worse for the region and for Europe."

Ahead of the vote, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned France it would be making a "grave mistake" if it recognized the State of Palestine.

"Do they have nothing better to do at a time of beheadings across the Middle East, including that of a French citizen?" he told reporters in Jerusalem on Nov 23, referring to hiker Herve Gourdel, who was executed by his jihadist captors in Algeria in September.

"Recognition of a Palestinian state by France would be a grave mistake," Netanyahu said.

On the eve of the parliamentary debate, President Francois Hollande told French media he wanted to host an international conference "to find a solution" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

He did not say when such a gathering might take place or who would be invited.

Guigou stressed that France - which has Europe's largest Muslim population and largest Jewish community - had good relations with both the Palestinians and the Israelis.

"We are not going to tip the balance by voting for this motion. On the contrary, we reaffirm several times the need for mutual and reciprocal recognition and the need for security guarantees for Israel," she said.

AFP - Reuters