PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron declared on Thursday that France will officially recognize Palestine as a state, marking a significant diplomatic shift amid growing international outrage over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. This decision elicited a strong condemnation from Israel.
Macron announced via social media platform X that the formal recognition will be articulated at the United Nations General Assembly in September. "The urgent thing today is that the war in Gaza stops and the civilian population is saved," he stated, emphasizing the need for immediate action.
This largely symbolic recognition increases diplomatic pressure on Israel, especially as the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip deteriorates. With France now positioned as the largest Western nation to acknowledge Palestinian statehood, it could influence other countries to follow suit. Currently, over 140 nations recognize Palestine, including more than a dozen European countries.
The Palestinian leadership seeks an independent state in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza — areas captured by Israel during the 1967 Middle East War. Israel's government has historically opposed Palestinian statehood, asserting that it would reward militant groups following Hamas' attack on October 7, 2023.
"We strongly condemn President Macron's decision," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated. "Such a move rewards terror and risks creating another Iranian proxy, just as Gaza became. A Palestinian state under these conditions would be a launch pad to annihilate Israel, not to live in peace beside it."
The Palestinian Authority welcomed Macron's announcement, with the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) vice president Hussein Al Sheikh expressing gratitude for France's support of the Palestinian people's rights to self-determination.
There was no immediate response from the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. France, which hosts Europe’s largest Jewish and Muslim populations, has often seen tensions surrounding Middle Eastern conflicts manifest in domestic protests.
Despite having extended support to Israel in the aftermath of the October 7 attacks and speaking against antisemitism, Macron has grown increasingly dissatisfied with Israel's actions in Gaza.
"Given its historic commitment to a just and sustainable peace in the Middle East, I have decided that France will recognize the state of Palestine," Macron declared, asserting the potential for peace.
This announcement coincided with the U.S. cutting short ceasefire talks in Qatar, citing Hamas’s lack of cooperation. It precedes a conference co-hosted by France and Saudi Arabia at the U.N. focused on achieving a two-state solution.
With shifting international sentiment against Israel, France and over two dozen other countries, primarily in Europe, recently condemned Israel's restrictions on humanitarian aid to Gaza amidst escalating violence.
Macron is poised to join leaders from Britain and Germany for emergency discussions regarding the situation in Gaza, including the delivery of aid to those suffering. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer remarked, "We are clear that statehood is the inalienable right of the Palestinian people. A ceasefire will put us on a path to the recognition of a Palestinian state and a two-state solution which guarantees peace and security for Palestinians and Israelis." He called the humanitarian conditions in Gaza "unspeakable and indefensible."
Israel annexed East Jerusalem shortly after the 1967 war and views it as part of its capital. In the West Bank, extensive settlement construction has led to the establishment of communities housing over 500,000 Jewish settlers. Meanwhile, around 3 million Palestinians live under Israeli military governance, with the Palestinian Authority exercising limited autonomy.
The last meaningful negotiations toward peace collapsed in 2009, the same year when Netanyahu resumed power. Most of the international community continues to endorse the vision of a viable Palestinian state existing alongside Israel as the only feasible resolution to the long-standing conflict.
