Paris (TDI): France plans to recognize a Palestinian state within months and could make the move at a United Nations conference on settling the conflict in New York in June, President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview broadcast on Wednesday.
“We must move towards recognition, and we will do so in the coming months,” Macron told the France 5 television channel.
He said, “Our aim is to chair this conference with Saudi Arabia in June, where we could finalize this movement of mutual recognition by several parties.”
Macron added that he intends to move forward with recognition because he believes it will eventually be the right step, and he wishes to be part of a collective effort, one that also allow all those who defend Palestine to recognize Israel in turn, which many have yet to do.
Nearly 150 nations recognize a Palestinian state. In May last year, Ireland, Norway and Spain announced recognition, followed by Slovenia next month, in moves partly fuelled by condemnation of Israel’s brutal war in Gaza.
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Macron said such recognition would allow Paris to be determined in the fight against those who deny Israel’s right to exist and to commit France to collective security in the Middle East.
A formal recognition by France would be a major policy shift and risk antagonizing Israel and the United States.
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Palestinian State Minister for Foreign Affairs Varsen Shahin said that France’s recognition of Palestinian statehood would be a step in the right direction in line with protecting the rights of Palestinians and the two-state solution.
In his recent visit to Egypt, Macron held summit talks with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Jordan’s King Abdullah II and also made clear he was strongly opposed to any displacement or annexation in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
