France joins other Western nations in recognising Palestinian state

UNITED NATIONS: France recognised a Palestinian state at a world summit in New York on Monday, nearly two years into the war in Gaza, joining Western allies such as Britain and Canada who made the same historic move on Sunday and were rebuked by Israel.

“We must do everything within our power to preserve the very possibility of a two-state solution, Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security,” the summit host, French President Emmanuel Macron, said at the beginning of a planned three-hour session at the United Nations.

“France recognizes the state of Palestine,” he added to applause. Andorra, Belgium, Luxembourg and San Marino were also expected to recognise a Palestinian state on Monday ahead of this week’s UN General Assembly, after Australia, Britain, Canada and Portugal did so at the weekend. Malta made the announcement earlier on Monday.

Israel has said such moves will undermine the prospects of a peaceful ending to the conflict in Gaza. The two-state solution was the bedrock of the US-backed peace process ushered in by the 1993 Oslo Accords. The process suffered heavy pushback from both sides and has all but died. No such negotiations over a two-state solution have been held since 2014.

The United States and Israel boycotted Monday’s meeting. Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon said Israel would discuss what action to take in response to the announcements of recognition after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returns to Israel next week. “Those issues were supposed to be negotiated between Israel and the Palestinians in the future,” he told reporters ahead of the meeting.

Amid Israel’s intensified Gaza offensive and escalating violence by Israeli settlers in the West Bank, there is a growing sense of urgency among some nations to act now before the idea of a two-state solution vanishes forever.

France has driven the move, hoping that Macron’s announcement in July that he would recognise a Palestinian state would give greater momentum to a movement hitherto dominated by smaller nations that are generally more critical of Israel.

While the majority of European countries now recognise a Palestinian state, two of the continent’s largest economies, Germany and Italy, have signalled they are unlikely to make such a move soon.