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 United Nations 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.''
There was no immediate reaction from the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.
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.
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.
An epiphany - the approaching two-state solution the centerpiece of the Daniel 9:27 covenant. More than 140 nations recognize a Palestinian State (the many) and the UN will rewrite Resolution 181 and change the language to partition Israel into two states, one Palestinian and one Jewish, with East Jerusalem the capital of the new Palestinian State confirmed by 666 who guarantees peace and security.
ReplyDeleteNo immediate action from DC concerning Macron's two-state solution announcement. Mike Huckabee's visit to a razed church in Taybeh on the West Bank followed up by a meeting with the PA in Ramallah may have sparked Macron's Middle East move.
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