French President Emmanuel Macron said France would recognize a Palestinian state in September, prompting a backlash from the US and Israel.
“In keeping with its historic commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, I have decided that France will recognize the State of Palestine,” Macron wrote on social media on Thursday.
The official announcement would be made on the sidelines of the next annual gathering of the UN General Assembly in New York, he added.
Photo: AFP
Macron’s decision has been described as “reckless” by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Still, it comes amid growing pressure on Israel over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, particularly from European and Arab states.
Macron’s announcement led to a harsh response from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“We strongly condemn President Macron’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state next to Tel Aviv in the wake of the Oct. 7 massacre,” Netanyahu wrote on social media. “Such a move rewards terror and risks creating another Iranian proxy, just as Gaza became.”
France’s move “only serves Hamas propaganda and sets back peace,” Rubio said. “It is a slap in the face to the victims of October 7th.”
Macron, as well as several other world leaders, is increasingly angered by the Israeli military’s continued attacks in Gaza and Netanyahu’s restrictions on allowing humanitarian aid to enter the territory, with reports of emaciated babies, children crammed into soup queues and men tussling over bags of flour.
Macron has said since last year that France, home to the largest Jewish and Muslim communities in Europe, could recognize a Palestinian state.
He even tried to organize a conference with Saudi Arabia in New York last month to do so, before canceling it following missile strikes between Israel and Iran.
French and Saudi officials are now expected to lead a conference to discuss Palestinian statehood next week in New York. The US would not attend, the US Department of State said on Thursday.
Spain, Ireland and Norway are among Western countries that recognize Palestine.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday said that “statehood is the inalienable right of the Palestinian people” and a ceasefire would put the UK “on a path” to recognition, but stopped short of committing to a timeframe.
For years the UK has formally supported a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but only after negotiations between the two sides. That is the same stance that many other countries in the West have taken.
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