The Vatican has inked a landmark treaty with Palestine more than a month after officially recognizing it as a sovereign state.

On Friday, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Al-Maliki and Paul Gallagher, the British archbishop who is the Vatican’s de facto foreign minister, signed in Vatican City an accord on the activities of the Church in areas under Palestinian control.

Speaking in the signing ceremony, Maliki praised the deal as “historic,” saying it enshrined Palestine’s special status as the birthplace of Christianity and the cradle of the monotheistic religions, including Islam, Christianity and Judaism.

Gallagher, in turn, said the agreement is “indicative of the progress made by the Palestinian Authority in recent years, and above all of the level of international support (for recognition).”

“In this context, it is my hope that the present agreement may in some way be a stimulus to bringing a definitive end to the long-standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” he added.

The agreement came only a month after the finalization of another deal through which the Vatican officially recognized the state of Palestine.

Israel responded angrily to the signing of the deal, with the regime’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs expressing regret over the Vatican’s decision to formally recognize Palestine as a state.

Vatican and Israel are yet to agree on a similar accord despite having been working on it since 1999.

On November 29, 2012, the United Nations General Assembly voted to upgrade Palestine’s status at the UN from “non-member observer entity” to “non-member observer state” despite strong opposition from Israel and the US.

The Vatican welcomed the 193-member assembly’s decision at the time.

HN/MKA/HJL