Paris (AP) – France A bold decision In Recognize the Palestinian state It could help to change the conversation about the future middle easteven if it is unlikely to have an immediate impact on the people of Gaza and Israel. War with Hamas.
In a world where the country once again uses military power to impose its will on others – especially Russia in Ukraineand the US, Israel and recent Israel Strike to Iran And its nuclear facility – the French president Emmanuel Macron They are trying to hit the ball because of diplomacy and the idea that war rarely brings peace.
With less than two years left in his second and final term as president, Macron also has a legacy to consider. He has not acted decisively as a Humanitarian disasters When history books are written, developments in Gaza can become filthy.
Macron has the levers that influence world affairs as a nuclear-armed, economically and diplomatically powerful country leader, sitting at a large UN table, as one of the five permanent members of the Security Council.
Being the first member of the G7 Group in the developed country that has made this leap poses domestic risk. Macron presides over a country with the largest Jewish population in Europe and the largest Muslim population. His words please some voters, but infuriate others. This is a fact that is reflected in France’s deeply divided political response to his decision announced at X on Thursday evening.
But after Israel firmly supported Hamas and its right to protect itself from it October 7, 2023the attack that sparked war, Macron shows that France’s support can only be achieved before.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has condemned the change by one of his country’s closest allies in Europe. “This move rewards the fear and risk of creating another Iranian proxy, just like Gaza did,” he said in a statement. “The Palestinian state on these terms will become a launch pad to annihilate Israel.
It’s a step, but it’s not a magic wand
The idea that Palestinians and Israelis could live peacefully in their states could possibly not seem more realistic. Abandoned in Gaza And the occupied West Bank is facing Increased settlement Israelites. Macron’s words alone won’t change that. Yet the message of the French leader is that hope of a “two state solution” achieved through diplomacy should not be allowed to die.
“This solution is the only way to deal with the legal aspirations of both Israelis and Palestinians. Now it must come as soon as possible,” Macron confirmed his decision to recognize Palestine as a nation in a letter to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
“The prospects for negotiated solutions to conflicts in the Middle East seem increasingly far away. I cannot resign from it,” he said.
The first impact is most likely not in Gaza, but in the world’s capital. We are focusing on other G7 countries due to economic and diplomatic shaking.
David Riglett Rose, a researcher at the French Institute of Strategic Analysis, said:
Over 140 countries recognize Palestine as a province, but France is the largest, most populous and most powerful of all Europeans who have taken this step.
“It creates some small momentum,” said Yossi Mekelberg, a senior consulting fellow at Chatham House think tank in London, “this is not enough.”
“France should be blessed, and Macron should be blessed for doing it and showing courage,” he said.
Changes in the balance of the great power
Until now, China and Russia were the only permanent members of the UN Security Council that recognized the Palestinian state. France will join Macron when he made an appointment at the UN General Assembly in September. The new trio will leave the US and the UK as the only permanent members who will not recognize Palestine as a state, leaving the US and the UK to a minority on the Security Council.
The so-called P5 countries are divided into many other issues, such as Ukraine, trade, and climate change, so there is no chance that France’s change itself will promote radical and rapid change for Palestinians. Yet, only mathematically, we could find that the US (Israel’s most important ally) and the UK were more isolated among the great powers in debates over Middle Eastern solutions.
US President Donald Trump rejected Macron’s decision on Friday, saying, “It doesn’t matter what he says. It won’t change anything.”
France may have better traction in British putting brexit Behind them, the UK and France now support Ukraine in particular. In the case of the British Prime Minister Keyer priority Following Macron’s example, Trump could become the strange man of the Palestinian state amid the Big Five Power of the Security Council.
Priority shows growing anxiety over Gaza’s humanitarian crisis, and in a statement Thursday said that suffering there and star is “unspeakable and unprotectable.” However, he doesn’t seem to be ready to make the leap like Macron, suggesting that the battle must stop first.
“The state is an inviolable right of the Palestinian people,” Starmer said. “The ceasefire places us on the path to recognition of the Palestinian state and the two states’ solutions.”
– –
Contributors were made by London AP writer Jill Lawless and Washington’s Michelle Price.
