France will recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly in September, French President Emmanuel Macron announced Thursday.
“True to its historic commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, I have decided that France will recognize the State of Palestine,” Macron wrote on X.
France is the first major Western power to recognize a sovereign Palestinian state.
Macron teased the move earlier this year, arguing in April that it wouldn’t be done to “please anyone,” but because “at some point it will be right.”
The French president, at the time, also claimed that recognizing a Palestinian state may result in more Middle Eastern countries recognizing Israel in return.
Macron’s social media post Thursday included a letter to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas informing him of his decision.
“In light of the commitments made to me by the president of the Palestinian Authority, I have therefore written to him of my determination to move forward,” he said.
“The urgency today is to end the war in Gaza and to provide aid to the civilian population.”
Macron further demanded an immediate cease-fire to the war in Gaza, the release of all hostages held by Hamas terrorists and “massive humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.”
“It is also necessary to ensure the demilitarization of Hamas, secure and rebuild Gaza” and “essential to build the State of Palestine, ensure its viability, and enable it, by accepting its demilitarization and fully recognizing Israel, to contribute to the security of all in the Middle East,” Macron continued.
“There is no alternative.”
Former Israeli government spokesman Eylon Levy slammed the move, urging the Jewish State to retaliate by shuttering the French consulate in Jerusalem.
“Israel should respond to France’s hostile decision by shutting its consulate-general in Jerusalem, which functions as its de facto embassy to the [Palestinian Authority],” Levy wrote on X. .
“If it wants an embassy to the non-existent state of Palestine, its diplomats are welcome to live in Ramallah,” he added.
Palestine is recognized as a sovereign state by about 140 countries, but France is the first of the Group of 7 major industrialized nations, which include the US, Britain, Canada, Germany, Japan and Italy, to make that decision.
Macron signaled support for Israel in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack on the Jewish state but in recent months has expressed growing frustrations with the war in Gaza.
France, which, like the U,S has faced violent anti-Israel protests since the start of the war, has both Europe’s largest Jewish population and the largest Muslim population in western Europe.
Macron’s announcement came shortly after the Trump administration cut short Gaza cease-fire talks in Qatar, noting that Hamas wasn’t negotiating in good faith.
With Post wires
