PARIS (AP) – French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Thursday what France will do Recognize Palestine As a nation, in a bold diplomatic move in snowballing global rage towards those hungering Gaza. Israel condemned the decision.
Macron said in a post from X that he would formalize the decision at the UN General Assembly in September. “The urgent thing today is that the war in Gaza will stop and civilians will be saved,” he wrote.
The mostly symbolic move places additional diplomatic pressure on Israel as a war and a humanitarian crisis In the Gaza Strip anger. France is now the biggest Western force to recognize Palestine, and this move could pave the way for other countries to do the same. Over 140 countries recognize Palestine. This includes more than 12 Europeans.
Palestinians want an independent state On the occupied West BankAnnexation of East Jerusalem and Gaza, territory occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East War. Most of the Israeli government and its political class have long been opposed to the Palestinian state, and now they say they will reward extremists after Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attacks.
“We strongly condemn President Macron’s decision,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. ”Such a move rewards the fear and risk of creating another Iranian proxy, as Gaza did. The Palestinian state in these conditions will become the launch pad to annihilate Israel.
Palestinian authorities welcomed it. A letter announcing the move was presented to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Jerusalem on Thursday.
“We express our gratitude and gratitude and gratitude,” posted by Hussein al-Sheikh, Vice President of PLO under Abbas. “This position reflects France’s commitment to international law and its support for Palestinians’ right to self-determination.”
The United States has “strongly rejected” Macron’s plan to acknowledge the Palestinian state, Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote in a post on Social Platform X.
“This reckless decision will serve Hamas propaganda alone and retreat peace. It is a slap in the face of the victims on October 7th,” Rubio said.
With Europe’s largest Jewish population and Western Europe’s largest Muslim population, France has often seen wars in the Middle East ripple into protests or other tensions at home.
The French president offered support to Israel after the Hamas attack on October 7th, and often opposed anti-Semitism, but is increasingly unhappy about Israeli war in Gaza.
“Given our historical commitment to just and sustainable peace in the Middle East, I have decided that France will recognize the Palestinian state,” Macron posted. “Peace is possible”
Thursday’s announcement came soon The US cut off a short Gaza ceasefire conversation In Qatar, Hamas said he had not shown sincerity.
I also came just days before France and Saudi Arabia co-hosted a meeting at the UN on solutions for the two provinces next week. Last month, Macron expressed his “resolution to recognize the Palestinian state” and called for a broader move towards solutions for the two states, along with recognizing Israel and its right to defend.
Momentum has been built against Israel recently. Earlier this week, France and more than 20 European countries Condemned Israeli restrictions on aid shipment to the territory and the murder of hundreds of Palestinians trying to reach food.
Macron will join British and German leaders for emergency consultations in Gaza on Friday. For hungry people And how to stop fighting.
“We are clear that the state is an inviolable right of the Palestinian people. A ceasefire places us on the path to a two-state solution that guarantees the recognition of the Palestinian state and peace and security for the Palestinians and Israelis.”
Israel annexed East Jerusalem shortly after the war in 1967, and considers it to be part of its capital. On the West Bank, they have built several settlements resembling the vast suburbs, home to over half a million Jewish settlers with Israeli citizenship. Three million Palestinians on the territory live under Israeli military control, and Palestinian authority exercises limited autonomy in population centres.
In 2009, when Netanyahu returned to power, the last serious peace negotiations were destroyed. Most international communities consider the establishment of a viable Palestinian state alongside Israel as the only realistic solution to conflicts of the century.
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Associated Press journalist Joseph Federman and Joseph Klaus of Jerusalem, Ottawa, Ontario, contributed to this report.
