TEL AVIV, October 14. /TASS/. The resolution of the British lawmakers recognizing the Palestinian state is an obstacle towards peace, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a communique on Tuesday.
“The premature international recognition is a dangerous signal for the Palestinian leaders that they can abandon the difficult decisions which both sides (Palestinians and Israelis) need to take, and this therefore undermines the chances towards reaching genuine peace,” the ministry says.
On Monday, the House of Commons in a majority vote of 274-12 backed a motion, which says that "this House believes that the Government should recognize the state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel."
The motion is non-binding and cannot change the policy of the UK government which believes that it is early to recognize Palestine as an independent state. The move, which is largely symbolic, is a "contribution to securing a negotiated two-state solution," the document reads.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Monday: “A real peace can only be achieved through bilateral negotiations.”
"The unilateral moves of the Palestinians in the UN aren't helping peace, the opposite is true, they are making the situation worse, something noone wants," he said.
In 2012, the United Nations General Assembly changed Palestine's "entity" status to "non-member observer state," affirming the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination.
A total of 134 member states of the United Nations have recognized the State of Palestine by September 2013. Palestine was officially acknowledged as a sovereign state by the Soviet Union in November 1988.