Germany will not join partners like Canada and France in recognizing a Palestinian state, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Tuesday after meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
“We will not join this initiative,” Merz said at a joint news conference with Carney in Berlin.
“We do not believe that the conditions for recognizing a state are met in any way at this time,” he added.
Germany sees recognizing a Palestinian state as one of the final steps toward a two-state solution in which Israelis and Palestinians can live side by side in peace.
In contrast, Carney announced in late July that his country would recognize Palestine as a state at the UN General Assembly in September.
French President Emmanuel Macron also plans to do so, while Britain has threatened Israel with action if certain conditions are not met.
Carney justified the move by saying that the prospects for a two-state solution were getting worse and worse.
Although Merz imposed a partial arms embargo on Israel in response to Israeli plans to expand the war to Gaza City, he has now confirmed that Germany will not follow its partners in recognizing Palestine, even after the United Nations declared famine in parts of Gaza.
