The Greek parliament (CC BY-SA ΠΑΣΟΚ/Wikimedia Commons, File)
The Greek parliament is set to recognize the state of Palestine in a parliamentary vote to be attended by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, a government source said Sunday.
A ceremony will accompany the vote on the resolution Monday, as Greece joins dozens of other countries that accord recognition to Palestine, the source said.
The resolution is nonbinding, and does not constitute a full government recognition of Palestine as a state. However, officials in Athens were playing up the move as if it were a full recognition.
In Athens, Abbas will meet President Prokopis Pavlopoulos and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. The latter visited Israel last month for a two-day trip and high-level meetings aimed at bolstering ties between Athens and Jerusalem.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) meets with his Greek counterpart Alexis Tsipras in Jerusalem on November 25, 2015. (Haim Zach/GPO)
Last week, the Greek parliament’s foreign affairs committee unanimously approved a motion to recognize Palestine.
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Israel had no immediate comment on Greece’s planned recognition of Palestine.
The European Parliament and parliaments from several EU member states have recognized a Palestinian state, as has the government of Sweden.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
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