France: Palestinian recognition shouldn't be merely symbolic

PARIS (Reuters) - France's foreign minister said on Tuesday that Paris should recognise a Palestinian state only if doing so would help achieve peace, not as a symbolic gesture. However, if negotiations between the Palestinians and Israel fail, Paris "would not shirk its responsibilities" but would recognise the Palestinian state, the minister, Laurent Fabius, said in answer to a question in parliament. His remarks came a day after British lawmakers voted to recognise Palestine. Their vote will not alter government policy, but it does carry symbolic value as Palestinians pursue international recognition. "From the moment when we say that there are two states, there will be recognition of a Palestinian state. That goes without saying, it's logical," Fabius said. "The only question are the modalities and how to do it in the most efficient way. What we want is not something symbolic, but something that is useful for peace." Like Britain, France does not classify Palestine as a state. But it says it could extend recognition if it believed doing so would help promote peace between the Palestinians and Israel. It has said that when the time comes it will recognise a Palestinian state. It has also supported Palestine's membership of the United Nations cultural agency UNESCO and its non-member observer country status at the United Nations. The British vote came just as Sweden's new centre-left government was preparing to officially recognise Palestine, a move Israel condemned. In theory, Israel does not oppose a separate state for Palestine, but it says the state and its boundaries can only be achieved through negotiations. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called on Sunday for a renewed commitment to achieving Middle East peace, saying a lasting deal between Israel, the Palestinians and all their neighbours was possible. The last round of U.S.-brokered peace talks foundered in April over Israeli objections to a Palestinian political unity pact that included the Islamist Hamas movement and over Palestinian opposition to Israeli settlement expansion. "Until now the prevailing idea was that recognition should be linked to the negotiations," Fabius said. "But if negotiations were to prove impossible or have no conclusion, then France will naturally have to assume its responsibilities." (Reporting By John Irish; Editing by Larry King)