PARIS: France will officially recognise a Palestinian state in September, President Emmanuel Macron has said, which will make it the first G7 nation to do so.
In a post on X, Macron said the formal announcement would be made at a session of the UN General Assembly in New York.
“The urgent need today is for the war in Gaza to end and for the civilian population to be rescued. Peace is possible. We need an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages, and massive humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza,” he wrote.
The mostly symbolic move puts added diplomatic pressure on Israel as the war and humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip rage. France is now the biggest Western power to recognize Palestine, and the move could pave the way for other countries to do the same.
Currently, the State of Palestine is recognised by more than 140 of the 193 member states of the UN.
A few European Union countries, including Spain and Ireland, are among them.
But Israel’s main supporter, the US, and its allies including the UK have not recognised a Palestinian state.
The Palestinians seek an independent state in the occupied West Bank, annexed east Jerusalem and Gaza, territories Israel occupied in the 1967 Mideast war. Israel’s government and most of its political class have long been opposed to Palestinian statehood and now say that it would reward militants after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack.
Israel annexed east Jerusalem shortly after the 1967 war and considers it part of its capital. In the West Bank, it has built scores of settlements, some resembling sprawling suburbs, that are now home to over 500,000 Jewish settlers with Israeli citizenship. The territory’s 3 million Palestinians live under Israeli military rule, with the Palestinian Authority exercising limited autonomy in population centers.
The Palestinian Authority welcomed it. A letter announcing the move was presented Thursday to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Jerusalem.
‘’We express our thanks and appreciation” to Macron, Hussein Al Sheikh, the PLO’s vice president under Abbas, posted. ‘’This position reflects France’s commitment to international law and its support for the Palestinian people’s rights to self-determination.”
Meanwhile, Netanyahu wrote in a post on X: ‘’We strongly condemn President Macron’s decision,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. ‘’Such a move rewards terror and risks creating another Iranian proxy, just as Gaza became. A Palestinian state in these conditions would be a launch pad to annihilate Israel — not to live in peace beside it.”
The US “strongly rejects” Macron’s announcement, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, calling the decision “reckless”.
The French president offered support for Israel after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks and frequently speaks out against antisemitism, but he has grown increasingly frustrated about Israel’s war in Gaza.
″Given its historic commitment to a just and sustainable peace in the Middle East, I have decided that France will recognize the state of Palestine,” Macron posted. ″Peace is possible.”
Thursday’s announcement came soon after the US cut short Gaza ceasefire talks in Qatar, saying Hamas wasn’t showing good faith.
It also came days before France and Saudi Arabia are co-hosting a conference at the UN next week about a two-state solution. Last month, Macron expressed his “determination to recognize the state of Palestine,” and he has pushed for a broader movement toward a two-state solution in parallel with recognition of Israel and its right to defend itself.
Momentum has been building against Israel in recent days. Earlier this week, France and more than two dozen mostly European countries condemned Israel’s restrictions on aid shipments into the territory and the killings of hundreds of Palestinians trying to reach food.
Macron will join the leaders of Britain and Germany for emergency talks Friday on Gaza, how to get food to the hungry and how to stop fighting.
“We are clear that statehood is the inalienable right of the Palestinian people. A ceasefire will put us on a path to the recognition of a Palestinian state and a two-state solution which guarantees peace and security for Palestinians and Israelis,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in announcing the call. “The suffering and starvation unfolding in Gaza is unspeakable and indefensible.”
The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the attack on southern Israel, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
At least 59,106 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s health ministry.
Much of Gaza has been reduced to rubble since then.
