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The Palestinian Authority and the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) condemned the adoption by an overwhelming majority of the Israeli Parliament (Knesset) of the government’s decision not to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state, in response to increasing international calls to revive settlement efforts based on the two-state solution.

In a statement yesterday, Wednesday, the Likud Party - led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - said that 99 out of 120 representatives in the Knesset voted in favor of the declaration approved by the government earlier.

The majority of opposition parties supported the declaration, while the majority of Arab representatives opposed it, including MP Ahmed Tibi, who objected to Netanyahu’s speech during the session and said that a Palestinian state would be established despite all these decisions.

Netanyahu welcomed the vote, saying on the “X” platform, “This historic vote confirms our collective determination,” adding, “We will not reward terrorism with unilateral recognition in response to the massacre of last October 7, just as we will not accept the imposed solutions.”

On the other hand, opposition leader Yair Lapid said, “I and my party voted in favor of this proposal because I and my party are against unilateral measures.” He added, addressing Netanyahu, “But as you and I know well, there is really no such thing. I invented a threat that does not exist.” .

In a statement on the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates// The Knesset's decision regarding the Palestinian State is invalid, illegitimate or illegal#Gaza_under_attack#CeasefireNow#Palestine#Israeliwarcrimes pic.twitter.com/7lHxZOhlu9

- State of Palestine – MFA 🇵🇸🇵🇸 (@pmofa) February 21, 2024

For its part, the Hamas movement denounced the announcement, and said in a statement, “The vote of the so-called Zionist occupation Knesset is a continuation of the approach of the Nazi entity that denies the rights of the Palestinian people to liberation and independence, and a disdain for the international community and the UN resolutions that affirm their national rights, foremost of which is the right to self-determination.”

The movement called on the international community to take practical steps to support the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, and to recognize their fully sovereign Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.

The statement considered that "the vote puts the international community and the United Nations before a real test of rejecting the dictates of the Zionist occupation, and its decisions that are fundamentally false, and they are decisions that aim to obliterate the Palestinian issue by continuing the war of extermination that is being sponsored and supported by the administration of US President Joe Biden."

Since the start of the war on the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, the United States has refrained from calling on Israel to cease fire, and continues to supply it with thousands of tons of weapons via an air bridge, but at the same time it indicates, along with European countries, to consider recognizing a Palestinian state. Independent in order to revive the settlement path.

The United Nations granted Palestine observer status in 2012, and among the 193 member states of the United Nations, 139 countries have so far recognized Palestine as an independent state.

Source: Agencies