(JNS.org) Former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar spoke out against unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state. “The Palestinian state does not exist yet and the Gaza Strip is still controlled by Hamas, but many nations are already moving to recognize it,” he said. “The Swedish government announced it would recognize Palestine, the British Parliament voted to recognize it, and we should expect similar moves to be made throughout Europe. Regardless of good intentions, recognizing a Palestinian state is not appropriate, not helpful, and wrong. It will not promote peace and will only cause the Palestinians to back away from an agreed-upon solution.” Aznar added that Israel “has been harassed by neighbor states and terrorist groups, and subsequently offered concessions to reach a fair peace agreement and was only met with refusal from the Palestinian Authority.”