Macron says France will recognise Palestinian state, drawing Israel and US rebukes
The mostly symbolic move draws condemnation from Israel’s Netanyahu and support from the Palestinian Authority
French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Thursday that France will recognise 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 social media that he will formalise the decision at the UN 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 recognise Palestine, and the move could pave the way for other countries to do the same.
More than 140 countries recognise a Palestinian state, with China among the first to do so in 1988. Norway, Spain, Ireland and Slovenia all announced recognition following the outbreak of the Gaza conflict, along with several other non-European countries.
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’ October 7, 2023, attack.