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Rabat — Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has strongly condemned France’s potential recognition of a Palestinian state, calling it “a reward for terrorism.” This statement comes in response to French President Emmanuel Macron’s plan to officially recognize Palestine as early as June 2024.
Following Macron’s announcement on Wednesday, Saar took to X to respond saying: “‘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.”
He said that “these kind of actions will not bring peace, security, and stability in our region closer – but the opposite: they only push them further away.”
Macron revealed France’s plans during an interview on the TV show “C’est à vous” following his return from Egypt. “We must move toward recognition, and so in the coming months we will,” the French president said.
The French president described Israeli Occupation Forces’ (IOF) assaults on Gaza as a crime, saying that the world should talk to Benjamin Netanyahu and “tell him that what he is doing is not in accordance with international law.”
He added that France aims to co-chair a conference with Saudi Arabia at the United Nations in New York this June, where they “could finalize the movement of mutual recognition by several” countries.
The Palestinian Foreign Minister Varsen Aghabekian Shahin welcomed the announcement as “a step in the right direction.”
The June conference aims to advance the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. Calls for a “two-state solution” have intensified since the genocide on Gaza began following the October 7, 2023, events.
Read also: Major European Powers Applaud Arab-Led Gaza Reconstruction Plan
Currently, almost 150 countries recognize Palestinian statehood. Ireland, Norway, and Spain took this step in May 2024, with Slovenia following in June. Despite growing international support, Netanyahu remains firmly opposed to the two-state solution.
France joins with Arab leaders to reinstate the Gaza ceasefire
France’s decision follows Macron’s recent participation in a trilateral summit with Egypt’s Abdelfattah Al-Sisi and Jordan’s King Abdullah II to dicuss the ongoing inhumane catastrophe in Gaza.
The three leaders pointed out the need to pave the way for “a political path leading to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem as its capital, as well as lasting peace and security in the region and an end to the escalation of the conflict.”
Noting the significance of both Egypt and Jordan in these talks, Macron expressed France’s readiness to invest efforts to reinstate the Gaza ceasefire, stop the Israeli genocide on Gaza, and allow the smooth flow of humanitarian aid to the already devastated enclave.
Al-Sisi, Adbullah II, and Macron held a phone call with US President Donald Trump to discuss ways to restore peace in the region and end the IOF’s ongoing genocidal onslaught on Gaza.
Welcoming the Arab-led Gaza reconstruction plan, Macron, however, said that Hamas must not have any role in the future authority in the enclave.
Gaza’s local medical sources informed that the IOF’s genocidal assaults on the Gaza strip in the last 24 hours killed at least 40 Palestinians, and injured 146 others. The death toll has jumped to 50,886 documented fatalities, with an additional 115,875 individuals sustaining injuries.
