Macron’s decision to recognise a Palestinian state angers Israel, the US

PARIS (AP)

French President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to recognise a Palestinian state, prompting similar moves from other Western nations, angered Israel and its US ally by putting a two-state solution back at the heart of diplomatic efforts to end the devastating war in Gaza.

In a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week, Macron wrote that “our determination to see the Palestinian people have their own state is rooted in our conviction that lasting peace is essential to the security of the state of Israel”.

France’s diplomatic efforts “stem from our outrage at the appalling humanitarian disaster in Gaza, for which there can be no justification”, Macron added. Israel, on Friday, declared Gaza’s largest city a combat zone as the death toll surpassed 63,000 Palestinians, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, since the war started on October 7, 2023, with a Hamas-led attack on Israel.

France, the UK, Canada, Australia and Malta have said they would formalise their pledge during the annual gathering of world leaders at the UN General Assembly, which starts September 23. Some others, including New Zealand, Finland and Portugal, are considering a similar move.

Netanyahu rejects Palestinian statehood and plans to expand the military offensive in Gaza.

EMBOLDENS MILITANTS

Macron’s letter comes after Netanyahu accused him of “fuelling” the “anti-Semitism fire” with his call for a Palestinian state, remarks Macron denounced as “abject”.

Last week, US Ambassador to France Charles Kushner also wrote a letter arguing that “gestures toward recognition of a Palestinian state embolden extremists, fuel violence and endanger Jewish life in France”. Kushner was summoned by the French foreign ministry and represented in his absence by his deputy.

Such angry reaction “shows that symbols matter”, said geopolitics expert Pascal Boniface, director of the Paris-based Institute for International and Strategic Relations. “There is some kind of race against time between the diplomatic path, with the two-state solution back at the heart of the debate, and the situation on the ground (in Gaza), which is every day making this two-state solution a little more complicated or impossible.”

Boniface said some supporters of a two-state solution showed disappointment at leaders’ decision to wait until September to officially recognise a Palestinian state, because they “fear that recognition will come when Gaza has even more become a graveyard”.

Macron and other international leaders have urged Israel to stop its offensive in the besieged territory, where most of its over two million residents are displaced, neighbourhoods lie in ruins, and a famine has been declared in Gaza City.

“The occupation of Gaza, the forced displacement of Palestinians, their reduction to starvation ... will never bring victory to Israel,” Macron wrote in his letter to Netanyahu. “On the contrary, they will reinforce the isolation of your country, fuel those who find pretext for anti-Semitism, and endanger Jewish communities around the world.”

More than 140 countries already recognise a Palestinian state in what is a mostly symbolic move.