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French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday said he will officially announce France’s recognition of the State of Palestine at the UN General Assembly in September.
“Faithful to its historic commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, I have decided that France will recognize the State of Palestine,” Macron said on X.
He underlined the urgency of ending the conflict in Gaza and providing aid to civilians affected by the war.
“The urgent priority today is for the war in Gaza to end and for the civilian population to be rescued,” he stated according to Anadolu.
“Peace is possible,” Macron stressed, calling for an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages, and large-scale humanitarian assistance.
He also highlighted the need to “ensure the demilitarization of Hamas, secure and rebuild Gaza.”
Macron said the goal must be to “build the State of Palestine, ensure its viability, and enable it—by accepting its demilitarization and fully recognizing Israel—to contribute to the security of all in the Middle East.”
“There is no alternative,” Macron stated, stressing that the French people want peace and that achieving it requires a collaborative effort between Israelis, Palestinians, and international partners.
“The French people want peace in the Middle East. It is up to us, the French, together with the Israelis, the Palestinians, and our European and international partners, to prove that it is possible,” he added.
He said he conveyed his determination to move forward in a letter to the President of the Palestinian Authority, citing “the commitments made to me by the President of the Palestinian Authority.”
“Trust, clarity, and commitment. We will achieve peace,” Macron concluded.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior officials expressed outrage after French President Emmanuel Macron announced Thursday that France will recognize the State of Palestine during a UN General Assembly meeting in September.
In a statement issued by his office, Netanyahu condemned Macron’s pledge as “rewarding terror,” referencing the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Israel.
“I strongly condemn President Macron’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state next to Tel Aviv in the wake of the October 7 massacre,” the statement said, adding that such a move “rewards terror and risks creating another Iranian proxy, just as Gaza became.”
“A Palestinian state in these conditions would be a launch pad to annihilate Israel — not to live in peace beside it,” he claimed.
“Let’s be clear: the Palestinians do not seek a state alongside Israel; they seek a state instead of Israel,” he added.
Hamas welcomed French President Emmanuel Macron’s pledge Thursday to recognize Palestine as a state at the UN General Assembly in September.
The Palestinian group described the declaration as “a positive step in the right direction” toward justice for the Palestinian people and support for their right to self-determination and an independent state on all occupied Palestinian land, with Jerusalem as its capital.
It called the French stance “a political development that reflects growing international conviction in the justice of the Palestinian cause and the failure of the Israeli occupation to distort facts or suppress the will of free nations.”
Hamas added that such international steps “represent political and moral pressure” on Israel.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry also welcomed Macron’s decision, describing the move as “historic.”
In a statement, the ministry noted that the decision “reflects a commitment to international law and resolving the conflict through political means to implement the two-state solution under UN resolutions and to achieve peace in the region and the world.”
The ministry urged other countries to recognize Palestine and participate actively in the upcoming UN conference in New York, while also taking practical steps to ensure the preservation of the two-state solution.
It described Macron’s announcement as “a victory for Palestinian diplomacy and Arab efforts, particularly those led by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to secure broader international recognition of the State of Palestine.”
Macron said in a post on X that he will officially announce France’s recognition of the State of Palestine at the UN General Assembly in September.
“In line with our historic commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, I have decided that France will recognize the State of Palestine,” he said.
