French President Emanuel Macron on Monday formally announced Paris’s recognition of a Palestinian state during a UN conference his country co-hosted with Saudi Arabia, which also saw Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas make the case that his government is prepared to lead that future state in both the West Bank and Gaza.
Macron was joined by the leaders of Belgium, Luxembourg, Malta, San Marino and Andorra who issued similar announcements at the conference aimed at promoting a two-state solution. The UK, Australia, Canada and Portugal made their own announcements recognizing Palestine a day earlier.
The gathering demonstrated overwhelming international support for the Palestinian cause and the unprecedented state of isolation that Israel finds itself in less than two years after Hamas’s October 7 attack, in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 hostages abducted.
The United States joined Jerusalem in boycotting the conference, the only major world power still in Israel’s corner as the Gaza war drags on and as the death toll crosses 65,000, according to unverified figures from the Hamas-run health ministry, which do not differentiate between civilians and combatants.
Both the US and Israel have argued that recognition of a Palestinian state at this time amounts to a reward for Hamas that won’t advance efforts to release the 48 remaining hostages and end the war in Gaza, but could well harm those goals.
Macron: Breaking cycle of violence lies in recognition of the other
But Macron insisted in the opening speech of the Monday conference that recognition advances the cause of peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
He began his speech by first calling for the immediate release of the hostages followed by an immediate ceasefire.
Macron argued that “breaking the cycle [of violence] lies in the recognition of the other,” insisting that the time had come for the move.
He acknowledged that Hamas’s October 7 attack is an “open wound for Israelis” and “our universal conscience,” reiterating Paris’s unequivocal condemnation of the onslaught.
Macron said France will never forget the victims and never stop fighting against antisemitism.
But while Israel has made important military gains against Hamas in the war that ensued, he asserted Jerusalem’s response has gone too far.
“Nothing justifies the ongoing war in Gaza. Nothing,” he said. “On the contrary, everything compels us to end it immediately.”
He highlighted the “atrocious conditions of the hostages,” saying that he held the families of captives Evyatar David and Nimrod Cohen in his arms.
But “a life is a life,” he stated, citing his meetings earlier this year on the Egyptian-Gaza border with Palestinian civilians wounded by Israeli strikes
Macron argued that the international community bears “collective responsibility” for the lack of peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
“Worst could still come to pass,” he said, warning of potential Israeli expulsion of Palestinians to Egypt, the death of hostages and Israeli annexation of the West Bank.
“We must do everything possible to preserve a two-state solution,” Macron said.
“This is why I declare today that France recognizes the state of Palestine,” he added to thunderous applause in the UN General Assembly hall.
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