COPENHAGEN: Denmark’s parliament on Tuesday voted down a bill to recognise a Palestinian state, after the Danish foreign minister previously said the necessary preconditions for an independent country were lacking.

Ireland, Spain and Norway on Tuesday formally recognised a Palestinian state, after their announcement last week that they would do so angered Israel which called the move a “reward for terrorism” and recalled its ambassadors.

The Danish bill was first proposed in late February by four left-wing parties.

“We cannot recognise an independent Palestinian state, for the sole reason that the preconditions are not really there,” Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said when the bill was first debated in parliament in April.

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“We cannot support this resolution, but we wish that there will come a day where we can,” Rasmussen, who was not present at the vote on Tuesday, added.

Dublin, Madrid and Oslo have painted their decision as a move aimed at accelerating efforts to secure a ceasefire in Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza, and have urged other countries to follow suit.