France’s President Emmanuel Macron, seen here in June, announced Thursday that Paris will recognize a Palestinian state. File Photo by Laurent Cipriani/EPA
President Emmanuel Macron announced Thursday that France will recognize the state of Palestine as part of Paris’ “historical commitment to a just and durable peace in the Middle East.”
Macron said in a social media post that he plans to make a formal announcement in September at the United Nations in New York.
“The urgent priority today is to end the war in Gaza and to bring relief to the civilian population,” he wrote in a statement on X.
“Peace is possible.”
Macron’s announcement, though mostly symbolic, comes as the death toll in the latest chapter of war between Israel and Hamas continues to rise, and hunger among Gazans in some areas borders on starvation.
Errant Israeli airstrikes have claimed the lives of civilians. Most recently, 67 Gazans were killed near a United Nations humanitarian aid truck convoy where they were lined up to receive supplies. A week prior, six children were among 10 people killed while waiting to retrieve water and other essential goods.
Several nations have come out to recognize a Palestinian State amid the war, including Spain, Norway and Ireland, though France is the first Group of Seven nation to recognize a Palestinian state, a decision that will raise the ire of the Trump administration, which supports Israel and has worked to end the war in Gaza.
“The United States strongly rejects @EmmanuelMacron’s plan to recognize a Palestinian state at the @UN General Assembly,” State Secretary Marco Rubio said in a statement.
“This reckless decision only serves Hamas propaganda and sets back peace. It is a slap in the face to the victims of October 7th.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted angrily to Macron’s announcement and accused him of leading a “crusade against the Jewish state.”
Netanyahu said in a statement, “We strongly condemn Mr. Macron’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state next to Tel Aviv in the wake of the Oct. 7 massacre” of 2023, and claimed a Palestinian state could become “a launchpad to annihilate Israel.”
The move threatens to worsen an already fraying relationship between Israel and France, which has deteriorated amid the war.
Hala Abou-Hassira, Palestine’s ambassador to France, said they “welcome” Macron’s announcement.
“Tonight, we are experiencing a decisive moment, a turning point against indifference, a turning point against indifference, a turning point against annihilation of a people, our people, the Palestinian people,” she said in a statement.
Macron’s announcement came on the same day that Israel and the United States recalled their hostage negotiators from Doha following Hamas’ reaction to the latest proposal to return them. U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff accused Hamas of not acting in good faith.
It also comes on the heels of Israel’s Knesset approving a non-binding resolution on Wednesday to annex the West Bank in a 71-13 vote.
Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territory and the establishment of settlements there are widely viewed as illegal under international law, and has drawn repeated criticism and condemnation of the United Nations and the wider international community.
Previous U.S. administrations have viewed such actions as destabilizing the region and as threats to the establishment of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Israel, under Netanyahu, does not support a two-state solution, and the resolution passed Wednesday declared Israel sovereignty “is an inseparable part of the fulfillment of Zionism and the national vision of the Jewish people that has returned to its homeland,” and that the Hamas attack on Oct. 7 “proved that the establishment of a Palestinian state poses an existential danger to Israel, its citizens and the entire region.”
The passing of the resolution drew the condemnation of several, mostly Middle Eastern countries.
Israel and Hamas have at war of years, with the conflict exploding into all-out war with the Iran-backed militia’s surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Since then, Israel has devastated the Palestinian enclave of Gaza, killing nearly 60,000 people, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
