France has joined a growing list of Western countries formally recognising the State of Palestine, in a move President Emmanuel Macron described as \u201cthe only path to peace.\u201d<\/p>\n
The decision follows similar announcements by Britain, Canada, Portugal and Australia, bringing the total number of UN member states recognising Palestine to nearly 150.<\/p>\n
\u201cI declare that from today France recognises the State of Palestine,\u201d Macron told the two-state solution summit in New York, co-hosted with Saudi Arabia. He said recognition must be accompanied by an \u201cemergency phase\u201d including a ceasefire, the release of hostages, humanitarian access and the reconstruction of Gaza.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe recognition of Palestine is a defeat for Hamas,\u201d he added, stressing that the future state should be demilitarised and that \u201claw must prevail over force.\u201d<\/p>\n
Macron also urged an end to the conflict in Gaza, declaring that \u201cthe time for peace has come\u201d and insisting that \u201cnothing justifies the ongoing war.\u201d<\/p>\n
US President Donald Trump is scheduled to address the UN General Assembly on September 23, alongside regional leaders such as Jordan\u2019s King Abdullah II and Qatar\u2019s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. Washington, however, pointedly declined to attend Monday\u2019s summit, which focused on advancing a two-state framework. Fellow G7 members Germany and Italy were also absent.<\/p>\n
The French leader also linked bilateral relations with Israel to its commitment to peace. \u201cThis recognition is the only solution that will allow Israel to live in peace,\u201d he said, confirming that France is prepared to support an international mission to stabilise Gaza and help train Palestinian security forces. Macron added that opening a French embassy in Palestine would depend on the release of hostages and a formal ceasefire.<\/p>\n
France\u2019s move was echoed by several smaller European states. Monaco\u2019s Prince Albert II, Belgium\u2019s Prime Minister Bart De Wever, Luxembourg\u2019s Prime Minister Luc Frieden, and Malta\u2019s Prime Minister Robert Abela all announced formal recognition. Abela stressed that Gaza was suffering \u201cfrom starvation\u201d and called for an end to the war and settler violence in the West Bank.<\/p>\n
Britain\u2019s Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper called recognition \u201cthe path to a better future\u201d but said Hamas could play \u201cno role\u201d in Palestine\u2019s future. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro S\u00e1nchez went further, urging that Palestine be granted full UN membership: \u201cThis is only the beginning. Palestine must be a full member of the United Nations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Australia\u2019s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also backed recognition, warning that Israel\u2019s behaviour was putting the two-state solution at risk. \u201cHamas can have no role in Palestine\u2019s future,\u201d he said, calling for Palestinian elections.<\/p>\n
UN Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres praised France and Saudi Arabia for spearheading the New York conference, but criticised the exclusion of the Palestinian delegation. \u201cNo peace in the Middle East is possible without a two-state solution,\u201d he declared, condemning Israel\u2019s \u201ccollective punishment\u201d of Palestinians and calling for an immediate ceasefire.<\/p>\n
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, speaking by video link, said Ramallah was ready to work with the US, Saudi Arabia and France to implement the so-called New York Declaration.<\/p>\n
He noted that Hamas would have no place in future governance and urged Israel to return to negotiations: \u201cWe are ready to end the bloodshed. Hamas must hand over weapons to the Palestinian Authority.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jordan\u2019s King Abdullah II said the war in Gaza must end immediately and \u201cthe conflict must end,\u201d while Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly stressed that the two-state solution was \u201cnot just a moral commitment but the only path to regional stability.\u201d He firmly rejected \u201cany attempt to forcibly displace the Palestinian people.\u201d<\/p>\n
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Israel\u2019s policies were undermining the two-state solution, describing it as \u201cthe only realistic plan\u201d for peace. She announced plans for a donor group to ensure Palestine\u2019s economic viability. European Council President Ant\u00f3nio Costa called for an immediate ceasefire and the release of hostages.<\/p>\n
The New York Declaration\u2014a Saudi-French initiative adopted by the UN General Assembly earlier this month with overwhelming support\u2014lays out concrete, time-bound steps towards establishing two states along the 1967 borders with Jerusalem as a shared capital.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"France has joined a growing list of Western countries formally recognising the State of Palestine, in a move…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":445451,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[186,114931,943,321,2000,299,36,837,20292,839,1814,3046,6506,16,7498,978],"class_list":{"0":"post-445450","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-bnm","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-egypt","12":"tag-eu","13":"tag-europe","14":"tag-france","15":"tag-israel","16":"tag-jordan","17":"tag-middle-east","18":"tag-palestine","19":"tag-portugal","20":"tag-saudi-arabia","21":"tag-uk","22":"tag-un","23":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115252899536205003","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=445450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445450\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/445451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}