Recognizing a Palestinian state is no longer taboo for France, French President Emmanuel Macron said, suggesting official Paris could make such a decision if efforts for a two-state solution are blocked by Israeli opposition.
Unilateral French recognition would do little to change the situation on the ground without genuine negotiations, but it would carry symbolic and diplomatic weight.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has expressed his opposition to Palestinian sovereignty, stressing that Palestinians will not agree to full Israeli security control west of the Jordan and that this is contrary to a Palestinian state.
French lawmakers voted in 2014 to call on their government to recognize Palestine, a symbolic move that had little impact on France’s diplomatic stance.
Macron’s comments marked the first time a French leader had made such a suggestion, and signaled further impatience among Western leaders as casualties mount in Gaza from Israeli retaliation following an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas that killed 1,200 people and kidnapped 253, according to Israeli reports.
“Our partners in the region, especially Jordan, are working on it, we are working on it with them. We are ready to contribute to that, in Europe and the Security Council. Recognition of a Palestinian state is not a taboo for France,” said Macron after meeting with Jordanian King Abdullah II in Paris.
“We owe it to the Palestinians, whose aspirations have been trampled on for too long. We owe it to the Israelis who lived through the greatest anti-Semitic massacre of our century. We owe it to the region that longs to escape from the promoters of chaos and those who seek revenge,” he said.
Macron’s comments are likely intended to increase pressure on Israel. Israel’s air and ground offensive on tiny, densely populated Gaza has killed more than 28,000 Palestinians, leveled residential areas and left most of its 2.3 million residents homeless. While most developing countries recognize Palestine as a state, most Western European countries do not, arguing that an independent Palestinian state should emerge from negotiations with Israel.
Macron added that the Israeli offensive on Rafah could lead to an unprecedented humanitarian disaster and would be a turning point in the conflict, reports Reuters.
