Israel’s Knesset rejects unilateral recognition of Palestinian State

The Israeli Knesset (parliament) voted, Wednesday, in support of a government decision to reject the unilateral recognition of a Palestinian State, Anadolu Agency reports.

The Israeli government on Sunday approved a declaration rejecting any unilateral recognition of a Palestinian State.

And, on Wednesday, 99 members of the 120-seat Knesset voted in support of the government decision against 9 votes.

“I don’t remember many votes in which the Knesset voted with a majority of 99 out of 120,” Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said after the vote.

He argued that Wednesday’s vote “sends a clear message to the international community.”

”The Knesset united against the attempt to dictate to us the establishment of a Palestinian State, a dictate which would not only bring peace but would endanger the State of Israel,” he added.

Last week, the Washington Post newspaper said the US and Arab countries are finalising a long-term peace plan between Israel and Palestinians that includes a firm timeline for the establishment of a Palestinian State.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980, claiming all of Jerusalem as its “eternal and undivided” capital in a move never recognised by the international community.

The Palestinians, for their part, hope to establish an independent State of their own in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since a 7 October Hamas attack. The ensuing Israeli attacks have killed more than 29,300 Palestinians and caused mass destruction and shortages of necessities, while less than 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

However, since then, it has been revealed by Haaretz that helicopters and tanks of the Israeli army had, in fact, killed many of the 1,139 soldiers and civilians claimed by Israel to have been killed by the Palestinian Resistance.

The Israeli war on Gaza has pushed 85 per cent of the Territory’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60 per cent of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

WATCH: Israeli military intensifies destruction operations in occupied West Bank