The Greek parliament unanimously asked from the Greek government the recognition of the State of Palestine at a special session held on Tuesday in the presence of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, according to the Greek Reporter.

Abbas was welcomed as head of state by parliament president Nikos Voutsis and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras: “we welcome you in the presence of the prime minister, members of the parliament’s presidium and president of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee of parliament and the Committee of the Greek-Palestinian friendship of parliament.”

On his part, Abbas stated “the grand step of recommending to the Greek government to recognize a State of Palestine will go down in the history and in the future paces of the Palestinian people” adding also “We are very proud that we are here at the bastion of the Greek democracy” who expressed the Palestinian people’s gratitude and pleasure for the ‘grandiose’, as he called it, “Greek parliament’s initiative that further contributes to the foundation of the Palestinian State” adding “We feel at home. Further steps for the strengthening of the already close and historic relations between the peoples will follow” said Abbas and concluded “We recently welcomed the Greek prime minister in Palestine and we hope very soon to also welcome the President of the Hellenic Republic and the parliament president.”