Emmanuel Macron on Monday recognized the “State of Palestine” on behalf of France from the UN podium, seeking to increase pressure on Israel in favor of “peace,” in a historic but largely symbolic move.
“France today recognizes the State of Palestine,” “for peace between the Israeli and Palestinian peoples,” the French president solemnly declared to applause at the opening of the UN General Assembly in New York, dominated this year by the war in Gaza.
“We are here because the time has come. The time has come to free the 48 hostages held by Hamas. The time has come to stop the war, the bombings in Gaza, the massacres, and the fleeing populations. The time has come because urgency is everywhere. The time for peace has come, because we are just moments away from losing the chance to seize it,” he stressed.
Israel, which denounced the decision already formalized Sunday by the UK, Canada, Australia, and Portugal and expected to be followed by other countries at the UN on Monday, was criticized alongside the United States.
A key ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Donald Trump “believes that recognizing the State of Palestine is a reward for Hamas,” White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said Monday.
Macron spearheaded a summit, co-chaired with Saudi Arabia, on the future of the two-state solution, following months of intensive diplomatic work to rally as many countries as possible and craft a peace plan.
Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan called for all countries to follow a slew of Western countries and recognize a Palestinian state.
"We call on all other countries to take a similar historic step that will have a great impact on supporting the efforts towards implementation of the two-state solution," he said at a UN conference.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas called for Hamas to surrender its weapons to his forces while condemning the group's deadly attack on Israel in an address to a UN summit on a two-state solution.
"Hamas will have no role in governing (Gaza). Hamas and other factions must surrender their weapons to the Palestinian Authority," he said via video link, having been denied a visa to attend by the United States.
"We also condemn the killing and detention of civilians, including Hamas actions on October 7, 2023."
Macron reiterated that Paris will not open an embassy until a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of all hostages.
"I may be able to decide to establish an embassy in the State of Palestine once all the hostages held in Gaza are freed and a ceasefire is in place," Macron told a UN gathering in New York.
The initiative led to the overwhelming adoption at the UN General Assembly of a text supporting a future Palestinian state while explicitly excluding the Islamist group Hamas, a condition demanded by many Western nations.
According to AFP, at least 146 of the UN’s 193 member states have now recognized Palestine. This does not change the Palestinians’ observer status at the UN, whose full membership has been blocked by the United States.
Several other countries are expected to join the move on Monday, including Andorra, Belgium, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, and San Marino, according to Macron.
Germany, for its part, does not plan to recognize Palestine in the short term. “Recognition of a Palestinian state comes rather at the end of the process. But such a process must start now,” said German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul.
“Erasure” of the Palestinians
Italy holds a similar position, yet tens of thousands protested across the country Monday to “denounce the genocide in Gaza,” in a day of mobilization marked by clashes in Milan.
In France, the recognition was welcomed by nearly a hundred left-leaning cities, which raised the Palestinian flag on their town halls, despite firm opposition from the Interior Minister.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who will speak via video after being denied a U.S. visa, hailed the new recognitions as “an important and necessary step toward achieving a just and lasting peace.”
However, some diplomats fear Israeli retaliation.
Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated Sunday that there will be no Palestinian state and threatened to expand settlements in the West Bank, while two far-right Israeli ministers, Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, even called for the annexation of the occupied Palestinian territory.
“We must not be intimidated by the risk of retaliation, because whatever we do, these actions will continue,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stressed in an AFP interview, referring to the war in Gaza and the “insidious annexation of the West Bank.”
In this context, the speech by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu at the UN General Assembly on Friday is highly anticipated, as is Donald Trump’s address on Tuesday.
According to Max Rodenbeck of the International Crisis Group, any diplomatic effort to support Palestinian rights is “welcome,” but without “concrete measures,” such recognitions risk “distracting from the reality, which is the accelerated erasure of Palestinian life on their homeland.”
The October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas killed 1,219 Israelis, mostly civilians, according to official data.
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, Israeli reprisals have killed 65,062 Palestinians, mostly civilians, in the Gaza Strip, where Hamas has held power since 2007.
AFP
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