Spanish lawmakers’ decision to call on the government to recognize a Palestinian state will distance peace and not bring it closer, officials in the Israeli Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday night.
"When the Palestinians are permitted to understand, albeit mistakenly, that they can achieve anything they want without a return to negotiations and without the required compromises, all that is achieved in practice is the further postponement of the Palestinian return to the negotiating table,” the officials said, according to the website of the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.
“There is a serious mistake here in conflict resolution when you make it more difficult to achieve something rather than contributing to it and promoting a solution,” they added.
The comments came hours after the lower house of the Spanish parliament adopted a motion calling on the government to recognize a Palestinian state.
The motion submitted by the opposition Socialists asks the conservative government to recognize “Palestine” in coordination with any similar move by the European Union.
It was adopted nearly unanimously in the lower house of parliament, with 319 in favor, two against and one abstention.
The resolution follows moves in other European countries intended to increase pressure for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Arab conflict.
British lawmakers voted overwhelmingly on October 13 in favor of a non-binding motion to "recognize the state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel as a contribution to securing a negotiated two-state solution".
Sweden announced on October 30 it officially recognized the state of Palestine, a move criticized by Israel and the United States.
France, meanwhile, announced last week that lawmakers will vote on November 28 on a proposal by the Socialist Party urging the government to recognize Palestine as a state.