President Emmanuel Macron officially announced that France will recognize Palestine as a state during a meeting co-chaired with Saudi Arabia at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Monday.
On the first day of the Jewish Rosh Hashanah New Year celebrations, President Macron broke with decades of French policy and with allies Israel and the United States to formally back Palestine statehood at the U.N. on Monday, despite accusations from Jerusalem and Washington of rewarding the Islamist Hamas terrorists for the October 7th terror attacks which left over 1,200 dead and hundreds more taken hostage.
Addressing the Assembly, the French President said per Le Figaro: “True to my country’s historical commitment to the Middle East… France now recognizes the State of Palestine.”
Macron added that “the time of peace has come,” calling on Hamas to release the remaining hostages from Gaza and for Israel to end its military operation against the terror group, saying that “nothing justifies the war in Gaza anymore.”
The move from Macron comes in the wake of the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and Portugal announcing on Sunday that they would officially recognise the territory as a state. This follows similar recognitions from Ireland, Norway, and Spain earlier this year. On top of France, Andorra, Belgium, Luxembourg, Malta, and San Marino are also set to join the recognition effort on Monday, according to the Élysée Palace. However, major European powers such as Italy and Germany have refused to go along with the move.
Hamas — which has controlled the Gaza Strip after winning legislative elections in 2006 and has refused to hold votes since — celebrated the raft of recognitions for Palestine as a state. The Islamist terror group was quoted as saying on Sunday: “This recognition is an important step in maintaining the right of our Palestinian people to their land and holy sites, and to establishing their independent state with Jerusalem as its capital.”
The move was also hailed by leftist local governments across France on Monday, with nearly 100 local governments raising the Palestine flag above their town halls, despite urging from French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau to refrain from doing so.
Macron argued on Sunday that his decision was not meant to reward Hamas, but rather to deradicalise the residents of Palestine.
“My first point is to say I don’t answer Hamas with that. I don’t meet the expectations of Hamas,” he told CBS News. “Hamas is just obsessed with destroying Israel. But I recognize the legitimacy of so many Palestinian people. They want a state. They are a people, and we do not want to push them into Hamas’s arms if we do not offer them a political perspective.”
This point was rejected by Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who said on Sunday that recognition of the territory as a state “will not help one Palestinian, it won’t help free one hostage, and it will not help us reach any settlement between Israelis and Palestinians. It will only embolden the forces of darkness. This is a sad day for those who seek true peace.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Monday that U.S. President Donald Trump “disagrees” with France and other allies on recognizing Palestine as a state and added that he “believes it is a reward to Hamas”.
Leavitt added that Trump sees the move as “just more talk and not enough action” and that the President “feels this does not do anything to release the hostages, which is the primary goal right now in Gaza… It does nothing to end this conflict and bring this war to a close.”
The move by Macron — who has increasingly focussed on foreign affairs amid plummeting support domestically — was also criticised by opposition leaders in France, including from longtime rival and former presidential candidate Marine Le Pen.
“By carrying out this recognition today, without any conditions, it is Hamastan and not Palestine that Emmanuel Macron recognizes. A terrorist state whose birth certificate will be written with the blood of the victims of the greatest pogrom organized since the Second World War,” Le Pen wrote on X.
“This prospect is a terrible encouragement for Islamist terrorists and an unforgivable fault toward all the Nations that fight against them,” she added.
Nevertheless, despite the official recognition from the Western states, it remains to be seen what if any impact there will be on the ground. Indeed, Palestine currently lacks the fundamental elements necessary for statehood, including clearly defined borders, a capital city, a functional constitution.
Meanwhile, Hamas and other radicals remain committed to the destruction of Palestine’s neighbour and chief trading partner, Israel, which is intent on rooting out the Islamist terror network from the territory and to free the remaining hostages under their control.
Should the supposed aim of the British and French efforts to craft a two-state solution without Hamas controlling Gaza, it is likely that even if the Islamist faction cedes control, the territories would be put under the thumb of an authoritarian dictatorship of Hamas’ supposed “moderate” rivals, Fatah, who currently control Palestinians in the West Bank.
Follow Kurt Zindulka on X: Follow @KurtZindulka or e-mail to: [email protected]
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