france-to-consider-recognising-palestinian-state-at-un-meet

French President Emmanuel Macron has indicated that France may formally recognise a Palestinian state “in the coming months”, with the decision likely to be announced at an upcoming United Nations conference in June.

 

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday night, Macron confirmed that his government intends to advance the process at the high-level UN conference on the Palestine-Israel conflict, which France will co-host alongside Saudi Arabia.

 

“We must move towards recognition, and we will do so in the coming months,” Macron stated.

“I’m not doing it to please anyone. I’ll do it because at some point it will be right,” he added.

 

Palestine’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Varsen Aghabekian Shahin, welcomed the development. “France’s recognition would be a step in the right direction in line with safeguarding the rights of the Palestinian people and the two-state solution,” she said.

 

However, the potential move drew sharp criticism from Israel. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar warned that any such unilateral decision would embolden Hamas and destabilise the region.

 

“A ‘unilateral recognition’ of a fictional Palestinian state, by any country, in the reality that we all know, will be a prize for terror and a boost for Hamas,” Saar wrote on social media platform X.

“These kinds of actions will not bring peace, security, and stability in our region closer—but the opposite: they only push them further away,” he added.

 

Currently, 146 out of 193 United Nations member states recognise Palestine as a sovereign nation. Several countries, including Armenia, Slovenia, Ireland, Norway, Spain, the Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and Barbados extended recognition last year.

 

Despite the increasing global support for Palestinian statehood, some major Western powers such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Australia have refrained from doing so.

 

France has historically supported a two-state solution to the long-running conflict, maintaining its position even after the 7 October 2023 attack on Israel by the Palestinian armed group Hamas.