France is making plans to recognize a Palestinian state and could do so as early as June, French President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview with a French broadcaster on Wednesday.

Macron said he hoped that by recognizing Palestinian statehood at a conference in June that France is co-hosting with Saudi Arabia pushing for a two-state solution, attendees who do not formally recognize Israel would in turn do so.

“We must move toward recognition, and we will do so in the coming months,” said the French president. “I’m not doing it for unity, or to please this or that person. I’m doing it because at some point it will be fair,” he said.

Macron’s comments come after Israel resumed its bombardment of the Gaza Strip last month when a two-month-long truce came to an end and ceasefire talks broke down between Israel and the militant group Hamas. Israel has since halted the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian enclave.

Israel’s war in Gaza was triggered by Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, assault against southern Israel during which 1,200 people were killed and 250 were taken hostage. The Hamas-run Gazan Health Ministry says more than 50,000 people in Gaza have died in the ensuing conflict. That figure includes both civilian and combatant fatalities.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict resonates deeply in France, which is home to Europe’s largest Jewish and Muslim communities. Israel is also home to a large French-speaking community that has kept strong ties to France.

France has always been in favor of a two-state solution but has resisted calls to recognize a Palestinian state, often arguing that Paris would only do so if it served the peace process.

Macron’s comments came at the end of a three-day trip to Egypt, during which he visited a hospital treating Palestinians in the city of El Arish, near the border with Gaza.

“I want to believe in peace; today the conflict has intensified and it’s terrible … Since March 2, there’s nothing going in [to the Gaza Strip] — no water, no food, no medication, and none of the injured are coming out,” Macron said.

Macron’s decision is likely to antagonize Israel and draw a backlash from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who says that recognizing Palestinian statehood now is effectively rewarding terrorism.

“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. These kind of actions will not bring peace, security and stability in our region closer — but the opposite: they only push them further away,” Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Gideon Sa’ar said on X.

The French Jewish umbrella group Crif on Thursday slammed Macron’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state, calling it “an unacceptable political victory” for Hamas while dozens of Israeli hostages are still being held in Gaza. 

Politico

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