Czech parliament recognises Jerusalem as Israel's capital

The Czech parliament approved on Wednesday the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, which annexed the city in the 1967 war, in violation of the will of the international community and the wishes of the Palestinian residents of the city who live under increasing Israeli restrictions.

Out of Czech 156 MPs, 112 of them voted in favour of the resolution.

This comes more than a month after Russia becoming the first country to recognise West Jerusalem as the capital city of Israel, in an unprecedented move in the beginning of April.

By recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, both Prague and Moscow have departed from the official stance of the international community that acknowledges Israel's capital as the Mediterranean city of Tel Aviv.

However, Russia’s recognition to recognise West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is that Moscow would recognise a future Palestinian state’s capital city as East Jerusalem.

In addition, the Czech Republic decided to condemn the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for its cultural preservation of Jerusalem.

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Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu had thanked the Czech parliament for the Czech parliament “for deciding to oppose UNESCO's non-recognition of Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem".

This came on the same day as Israel celebrated its 50th Jerusalem Day, a national holiday which marks of the city's capture from Jordan in 1967.

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Israeli police said a record 60,000 people took part in the event, which sees mainly religious-nationalist Israelis march through East Jerusalem’s Palestinian majority Old City waving Israeli flags, singing nationalist songs, and dancing.

Some Israelis banged on the doors of Palestinian homes and affixed stickers in Hebrew reading "The land of Israel is all mine" as the march, funded by the Jerusalem municipality, culminated at the Western Wall.