Palestine Granted Full Membership in Inter-Parliamentary Union

Saturday April 19, 2008 15:11 by George Rishmawi - IMEMC News

The Executive Committee of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) decided on Friday to grant Palestine full membership in the Union as of next October, Palestine News Agency (WAFA) reported.

Headquarters of the IPU, Geneva, Switzerland (Photo: www.ipu.org)

The decision came during the meeting of the 118th session of the Union, which ended its work Friday in the city of Cape Town, South Africa.

Palestine participated in the conference with a delegation headed by Vice President of the Palestinian National Council.

Established in 1889, the IPU is the international organization of Parliaments of sovereign States, and consists of 146 member states.

The Union is the focal point for world-wide parliamentary dialogue and works for peace and co-operation among peoples and for the firm establishment of representative democracy.

Palestine is granted full membership as a special case, since it is the only country that is represented in the union without being a sovereign state, as it is still facing an Israeli military occupation.

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