Sweden's new government officially recognised a Palestinian state on October 30. This week, Spain's Parliament approved a non-binding resolution recognising a Palestinian state, following similar motions in Britain and Ireland.
Germany, Israel's closest European ally, has made clear it won't follow that lead.
Merkel today said that Berlin supports a two-state solution and "we see how difficult that is, so we also believe that unilateral recognition of the Palestinian state won't move us forward" toward that goal.
She said it's better to focus squarely on getting Israeli-Palestinian talks going although "that appears very difficult in the current conditions.
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