French President Macron says France will recognize Palestine as a state
PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron announced Thursday that France will recognize Palestine as a state, in a bold diplomatic move amid snowballing global anger over people starving in Gaza. Israel denounced the decision.
Macron said in a post on X that he will formalize the decision at the U.N. General Assembly in September. 'The urgent thing today is that the war in Gaza stops and the civilian population is saved,'' 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. More than 140 countries recognize a Palestinian state, including more than a dozen in Europe.
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.
''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 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.''
The United States 'strongly rejects" Macron's plan to recognize a Palestinian state, Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote in a post on the social platform X.
"This reckless decision only serves Hamas propaganda and sets back peace. It is a slap in the face to the victims of October 7th," Rubio said.
With Europe's largest Jewish population and the largest Muslim population in western Europe, France has often seen fighting in the Middle East spill over into protests or other tensions at home.
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 U.S. 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 U.N. 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.''
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 last serious peace talks broke down in 2009, when Netanyahu returned to power. Most of the international community considers the establishment of a viable Palestinian state alongside Israel to be the only realistic solution to the century-old conflict.
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AP journalists Josef Federman in Jerusalem and Joseph Krauss in Ottawa, Ontario, contributed to this report.
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'The prospect of a negotiated solution to the conflict in the Middle East seems increasingly distant. I cannot resign myself to that,' he said. The first impacts are likeliest not in Gaza but in world capitals where leaders may face pressure or feel emboldened to follow France's lead. Attention is focusing on other G7 nations, because of their economic and diplomatic sway. 'Macron's declaration could create a precedent because it would be the first Western country in the G7 to do so, which could have the effect of leading others,' said David Rigoulet-Roze, a researcher at the French Institute of Strategic Analysis. Although more than 140 countries recognize Palestine as a state, France will be the biggest, most populous and most powerful among those in Europe that have taken this step. 'It creates some small momentum,' said Yossi Mekelberg, a senior consulting fellow at the Chatham House think tank in London who also added, however, that 'this is not enough.' 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It's not going to change anything.' France may have better traction with the U.K. Putting Brexit behind them, the U.K. and France are now drawing closer, most notably in support for Ukraine. If British Prime Minister Keir Starmer follows Macron's example, Trump could become the odd man out on Palestinian statehood among the security council's big five powers. Starmer has signaled growing disquiet over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, saying in a statement Thursday that suffering and starvation there 'is unspeakable and indefensible.' But he doesn't seem ready to take a leap like Macron, suggesting that fighting must stop first. 'Statehood is the inalienable right of the Palestinian people,' Starmer said. 'A ceasefire will put us on a path to the recognition of a Palestinian state and a two-state solution.'
