Italian parliamentarians have approved a non-binding resolution which calls on the government to recognize Palestine as an independent state, amid growing calls for the recognition of Palestine as a sovereign state.

The resolution was passed on Friday with as many as 300 members of Italy’s Chamber of Deputies voting in favor of the resolution. Forty-five opposed. report presstv

The motion for recognizing Palestine as an independent state was presented by Italy’s Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s Democratic Party (PD).

Earlier this month, Belgium’s parliament approved a resolution calling for Palestine to be recognized as an independent state.

Sweden is the only European country that has officially recognized Palestine’s statehood, although several other parliaments in the 28-nation European Union (EU) have also made similar moves demanding that their governments recognize Palestine as a state.

Israel has been angered by the motions submitted to European parliaments.

On December 2, 2014, French lawmakers voted overwhelmingly in favor of a motion to recognize Palestine as an independent state. The motion, urging the government to recognize Palestine as a sovereign state, was backed by a majority of 339 lawmakers while 151 members voted against.

On November 18, 2014, Spanish lawmakers overwhelmingly approved a non-binding resolution on recognizing a Palestinian state.

Britain and Ireland have also passed similar non-binding motions.

On November 29, 2012, the 193-member United Nations General Assembly voted to upgrade Palestine’s status to non-member observer state.

Palestinians are seeking to create an independent state on the territories of the West Bank, East al-Quds (Jerusalem), and the Gaza Strip and are demanding that Israel withdraw from the occupied Palestinian territories. Israel, however, has refused to return to the 1967 borders and is unwilling to discuss the issue of al-Quds.