Italy’s lower house of parliament on Friday approved a non-binding motion urging the government to recognize Palestine as a state, a move that follows similar symbolic votes in other European parliaments in recent months.

The motion was backed by the ruling centre-left Democratic Party of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. Before the vote, Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni told lawmakers that he agreed with it.

The resolution urged the government “to sponsor the recognition of Palestine as a democratic and sovereign State within the 1967 borders and with Jerusalem as a shared capital, taking fully into account the worries and legitimate interests of the State of Israel.”

The Chamber of Deputies approved a second motion calling for a deal between the Gaza-based movement Hamas and the secular Fatah party in the West Bank based on the recognition of Israel and the renunciation of violence, thus “setting up the conditions for the recognition of a Palestinian State.”

Parliaments in Britain, Spain, France, Ireland, Portugal and Belgium have already voted in favour of statehood for Palestine, while the government in Sweden went one step further in October by officially recognizing the state.

In December, the European Parliament supported “in principle [the] recognition of Palestinian statehood.”

So far, 135 countries have recognized the sovereignty of the Palestinian Territories. SAPA