Ireland's Upper House joins Sweden, British parliament and calls for recognition of 'Palestine'

Israeli official says that the Upper House of the Irish parliament is a relatively insignificant body, and that the vote is only symbolic.

By HERB KEINON
A protester places a Palestinian flag at the Israeli barrier fence in the West Bank village of Rafat near Ramallah (photo credit: REUTERS)
A protester places a Palestinian flag at the Israeli barrier fence in the West Bank village of Rafat near Ramallah
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Israel took a low profile approach Thursday to the passage through the Upper House of the Irish parliament this week of a nonbinding resolution calling on Ireland to recognize “Palestine.”
The motion was proposed by the head of the country’s main opposition party, and passed without a vote.
The motion called on the government to “formally recognize the State of Palestine and do everything it can at the international level to help secure a viable two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
The move followed fast on the heels of an announcement by Sweden’s new prime minster earlier this month that his country would recognize “Palestine,” and a non-binding vote in support of such move by the British House of Commons. Both those actions triggered angry responses from Jerusalem.
The Irish move, however, went hardly noticed, with one Israeli official saying that the Upper House of the Irish parliament is a relatively insignificant body, and that the vote is only symbolic.
Emmanuel Nachshon, the Foreign Ministry’s spokesman, said that supporting Palestinian unilateral moves “will not help bring them back to the negotiating table.”
Ireland has long been considered one of the harshest critics of Israel inside the EU.