France to recognize independent Palestinian state
July 24 (UPI) -- President Emmanuel Macron announced Thursday that France will recognize the state of Palestine as part of Paris' "historical commitment to a just and durable peace in the Middle East."
Macron said in a social media post that he plans to make a formal announcement in September at the United Nations in New York.
"The urgent priority today is to end the war in Gaza and to bring relief to the civilian population," he wrote in a statement on X.
"Peace is possible."
Macron's announcement, though mostly symbolic, comes as the death toll in the latest chapter of war between Israel and Hamas continues to rise, and hunger among Gazans in some areas borders on starvation.
Errant Israeli airstrikes have claimed the lives of civilians. Most recently, 67 Gazans were killed near a United Nations humanitarian aid truck convoy where they were lined up to receive supplies. A week prior, six children were among 10 people killed while waiting to retrieve water and other essential goods.
Several nations have come out to recognize a Palestinian State amid the war, including Spain, Norway and Ireland, though France is the first Group of Seven nation to recognize a Palestinian state, a decision that will raise the ire of the Trump administration, which supports Israel and has worked to end the war in Gaza.
"The United States strongly rejects @EmmanuelMacron's plan to recognize a Palestinian state at the @UN General Assembly," State Secretary Marco Rubio said in a statement.
"This reckless decision only serves Hamas propaganda and sets back peace. It is a slap in the face to the victims of October 7th."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted angrily to Macron's announcement and accused him of leading a "crusade against the Jewish state."
Netanyahu said in a statement, "We strongly condemn Mr. Macron's decision to recognize a Palestinian state next to Tel Aviv in the wake of the Oct. 7 massacre" of 2023, and claimed a Palestinian state could become "a launchpad to annihilate Israel."
The move threatens to worsen an already fraying relationship between Israel and France, which has deteriorated amid the war.
Hala Abou-Hassira, Palestine's ambassador to France, said they "welcome" Macron's announcement.
"Tonight, we are experiencing a decisive moment, a turning point against indifference, a turning point against indifference, a turning point against annihilation of a people, our people, the Palestinian people," she said in a statement.
Macron's announcement came on the same day that Israel and the United States recalled their hostage negotiators from Doha following Hamas' reaction to the latest proposal to return them. U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff accused Hamas of not acting in good faith.
It also comes on the heels of Israel's Knesset approving a non-binding resolution on Wednesday to annex the West Bank in a 71-13 vote.
Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territory and the establishment of settlements there are widely viewed as illegal under international law, and has drawn repeated criticism and condemnation of the United Nations and the wider international community.
Previous U.S. administrations have viewed such actions as destabilizing the region and as threats to the establishment of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Israel, under Netanyahu, does not support a two-state solution, and the resolution passed Wednesday declared Israel sovereignty "is an inseparable part of the fulfillment of Zionism and the national vision of the Jewish people that has returned to its homeland," and that the Hamas attack on Oct. 7 "proved that the establishment of a Palestinian state poses an existential danger to Israel, its citizens and the entire region."
The passing of the resolution drew the condemnation of several, mostly Middle Eastern countries.
Israel and Hamas have at war of years, with the conflict exploding into all-out war with the Iran-backed militia's surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Since then, Israel has devastated the Palestinian enclave of Gaza, killing nearly 60,000 people, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
32 minutes ago
Can his golf course 'further' US-UK relations? Trump will use meeting with PM to try
EDINBURGH, Scotland -- President Donald Trump once suggested his golf course in Scotland 'furthers" the U.S.-U.K. relationship. Now he's getting the chance to prove it. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is meeting Monday with Trump at a golf property owned by the president's family near Turnberry in southwestern Scotland — then later traveling to Abderdeen, on the country's northeast coast, where there's another Trump golf course and a third is opening soon. During his first term in 2019, Trump posted of his Turnberry property, 'Very proud of perhaps the greatest golf course anywhere in the world. Also, furthers U.K. relationship!' Starmer is not a golfer, but toggling between Trump's Scottish courses shows the outsized influence the president puts on properties bearing his name — and on golf's ability to shape geopolitics. While China initially responded to Trump's tariff threats by retaliating with high import taxes of its own on U.S. goods but has since begun negotiating easing trade tensions, Starmer and his country have taken a far softer approach. He's gone out of his way to work with Trump, flattering the president repeatedly during a February visit to the White House, and teaming up to announce a joint trade framework on tariffs for some key products in May. Starmer and Trump then signed a trade agreement during the G7 summit in Canada that freed the U.K.'s aerospace sector from U.S. tariffs and used quotas to reduce them on auto-related industries from 25% to 10% while increasing the amount of U.S. beef it pledged to import. The prime minister's office says Monday's meeting will also touch on Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza, and that it hopes to welcome the Trump administration working with officials in Qatar and Egypt to bring about a ceasefire. Starmer plans to stress the urgent need to cease the fighting and work to end starvation and other suffering occurring amid increasingly desperate circumstances in Gaza. Also on the agenda, according to Starmer's office, are efforts to promote a possible peace deal to end fighting in Russia's war with Ukraine — particularly efforts at forcing Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table in the next 50 days. Protesters, meanwhile, have planned a demonstration in Balmedie, near Trump's existing course, after demonstrators took to the streets on Saturday to decry the president's visit. Discussions with Starmer follow Trump meeting Sunday with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen at his Turnberry course. They announced a trade framework that will put 15% tariffs on most goods from both countries — though many major details remain pending. On Tuesday, Trump will be at the site of his new course near Aberdeen for an official ribbon cutting. It opens to the public on Aug. 13 and tee times are already for sale — with the course betting that a presidential visit can help boost sales. There are still lingering U.S.-Britain trade issues that need fine-tuning after the previous agreements, including the tariff rates Washington imposes on steel imported from the U.K. Even as some trade details linger and both leaders grapple with increasingly difficult choices in Gaza and Ukraine, however, Starmer's attempts to stay on Trump's good side appears to be working. 'The U.K. is very well-protected. You know why? Because I like them — that's their ultimate protection,' Trump said during the G7. Also likely to improve Trump's mood is the fact that the U.S. ran an $11.4 billion trade surplus with Britain last year, meaning it exported more to the U.K. than it imported. Census Bureau figures this year indicate that the surplus could grow. The president has for months railed against yawning U.S. trade deficits with key allies and sees tariffs as a way to try and close them in hurry. Trump is set to return to Britain in September for an unprecedented second state visit. Trump will be hosted then by King Charles III and Queen Camilla at Windsor Castle.
UPI
an hour ago
- UPI
Trump, Starmer to meet in Scotland to talk trade, Gaza
President Donald Trump (R) shakes hands with Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain at the White House in Washington, D.C., on February 27. The pair are to meet Monday at Trump's Scotland golf course where they are expected to talk trade and the war in Gaza. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI. | License Photo July 28 (UPI) -- U.S. President Donald Trump is set to meet with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Scotland on Monday when the Western leaders are expected to discuss cease-fire plans for the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Starmer is to travel to Trump's golf course in Turnberry where the American president on Sunday announced a new trade deal with the European Union. According to a statement from 10 Downing Street, Trump and Starmer are to have "wide-ranging" one-on-one talks, including on the implementation of the Economic Prosperity Deal that the pair signed on May 8 and which came into effect last month. Starmer is also expected to discuss with Trump "what more can be done to secure the cease-fire urgently, bring an end to the unspeakable suffering and starvation in Gaza and free the hostages who have been held so cruelly for so long." Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has sought a cease-fire and hostage-release deal in the war in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza between Iran-poxy militia Hamas and Israel, but has repeatedly been met with obstacles. On Thursday, Israel and the United States recalled their negotiators, ending talks with Hamas that had initially sparked optimism that a deal could be reached. The Trump administration has blamed Hamas for the breakdown, with Steve Witkoff, Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, stating the Iran-backed militia's latest response "clearly shows a lack of desire to reach a cease-fire in Gaza." "It's a shame Hamas has acted in this selfish way," he said in a statement. The Trump-Starmer meeting comes amid a deteriorating situation in Gaza where aid agencies are warning of starvation. Israel has announced a so-called tactical pause to fighting in specific areas to allow the delivery of aid between the hours of 10 a.m. and 8 p.m., local time, on Sunday. The announcement came as the Middle Eastern country is coming under mounting international pressure over its war in Gaza and its restrictions on aid entering the territory. According to the Save the Children charity, 133 people, including 87 children, have already died from malnutrition and starvation. Britain is among 30 nations that are calling for the war in Gaza to end, describing Israel's aid delivery model as "dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity." "We condemn the drip-feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food," the nations said in the joint statement, which calls on Israel to lift the restrictions on the flow of aid. "The Israeli government's denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable. Israel must comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law." Britain, France and Germany separately over the weekend issued a statement calling for Israel and Hamas to end the conflict "by reaching an immediate cease-fire." Trump and Starmer are also expected to discuss the war in Ukraine. After the meeting, they will have a private engagement in Aberdeen, 10 Downing Street said. The meeting also comes ahead of Trump being received for a State Visit hosted by King Charles III at Windsor Castle from Sept. 17 to 19. It will be Trump's second State Visit after a previous trip in 2019 where he was hosted by the late Queen Elizabeth II.
News24
2 hours ago
- News24
Israel, US boycott UN conference on Palestinian state
Ministers will hold a UN conference on the two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians. France will recognise a Palestinian state in September. The US and Israel are boycotting the conference. Dozens of ministers will gather at the United Nations on Monday for a delayed conference to work toward a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians, but the US and Israel are boycotting the event. The 193-member UN General Assembly decided in September 2024 that such a conference would be held in 2025. Hosted by France and Saudi Arabia, the conference was postponed in June after Israel attacked Iran. The conference aims to lay out the parameters for a roadmap to a Palestinian state, while ensuring Israel's security. READ | Netanyahu slams French proposal to recognise Palestinian state as 'launch pad to annihilate Israel' French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told newspaper La Tribune Dimanche in an interview published on Sunday that he will also use the conference this week to push other countries to join France in recognising a Palestinian state. France intends to recognise a Palestinian state in September at the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly, President Emmanuel Macron said last week. 'We will launch an appeal in New York so that other countries join us to initiate an even more ambitious and demanding dynamic that will culminate on September 21,' Barrot said, adding that he expected Arab countries by then to condemn Palestinian militants Hamas and call for their disarmament. The conference comes as a 22-month war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza still rages. The war was triggered on 7 October 2023 when Hamas killed 1 200 people in southern Israel and took some 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, Israel's military campaign has killed nearly 60 000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities. Khames Alrefi/Anadolu via Getty Images The US will not attend the conference at the UN, said a State Department spokesperson, describing it as 'a gift to Hamas, which continues to reject ceasefire proposals accepted by Israel that would lead to the release of hostages and bring calm in Gaza'. The State Department spokesperson added that Washington voted against the General Assembly last year calling for the conference and would 'not support actions that jeopardise the prospect for a long-term, peaceful resolution to the conflict'. Israel is also not taking part in the conference, 'which doesn't first urgently address the issue of condemning Hamas and returning all of the remaining hostages', said Jonathan Harounoff, international spokesperson at Israel's UN mission. The UN has long endorsed a vision of two states living side by side within secure and recognized borders. Palestinians want a state in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip, all territory captured by Israel in the 1967 war with neighbouring Arab states. Saeed MMT Jaras/Anadolu via Getty Images The UN General Assembly in May last year overwhelmingly backed a Palestinian bid to become a full UN member by recognising it as qualified to join and recommending the UN Security Council 'reconsider the matter favourably'. The resolution garnered 143 votes in favour and nine against. The General Assembly vote was a global survey of support for the Palestinian bid to become a full UN member - a move that would effectively recognise a Palestinian state - after the US vetoed it in the UN Security Council several weeks earlier.
