France and other countries prepared to recognize a Palestinian state as the UN’s centerpiece diplomatic week got underway yesterday, following several Western governments in symbolically endorsing statehood and sparking Israel’s wrath.
Recognition by the UK, Canada, Australia and Portugal on Sunday of a Palestinian state piled pressure on Israel as it intensifies its war in Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands, devastated the enclave and drawn vocal rebukes from its allies.
French President Emmanuel Macron has indicated France would follow suit yesterday as he prepared to host a meeting with Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman on the moribund two-state solution .
Photo: AFP
“They want a nation, they want a state, and we should not push them toward Hamas,” Macron told CBS News’ Face the Nation on Sunday, adding that the move would help isolate the armed group.
He also said that he would make the release of hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, a precondition of opening an embassy to the Palestinian state.
The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the recognition moves do not “promote peace, but on the contrary further destabilizes the region and undermines the chances of achieving a peaceful solution in the future.”
More than 140 world leaders would descend on New York this week for the annual UN General Assembly summit, which would be dominated by the question of the future of the Palestinians.
One world leader who would miss the gathering is Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who Washington denied a visa to attend, along with his officials.
That earned a rebuke from the General Assembly, which would be the focus of world leaders’ speeches and the inevitable protest walkouts this week. The General Assembly voted 145 to five to exceptionally allow Abbas to speak via video link.
The humanitarian catastrophe ravaging the small Palestinian territory would top the agenda, two years after the beginning of the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip that was triggered by the unprecedented Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023.
Some diplomats fear Israeli reprisals over the Western push to recognize a Palestinian state to relaunch talks on the two-state solution.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated on Sunday his position that there would be no Palestinian state and vowed to accelerate the creation of new settlements.
Two far-right Israeli ministers, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich, went further, calling for the annexation of the West Bank.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday said that “we should not feel intimidated by the risk of retaliation.”
“With or without doing what we are doing, these actions would go on and at least there is a chance to mobilize international community to put pressure for them not to happen,” he said.
All eyes would be on Netanyahu when he takes to the podium Friday, as well as on his main backer US President Donald Trump. who would speak today.
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